Maine’s most colorful shore birds are making their trek back to land to do the yearly breeding thingy.
“After months at sea, the orange-beaked birds are gathering along coastal cliffs in a short but sensational migration,” reports National Geographic.
The Atlantic puffins spend most of their lives out on the ocean, but each April the urge to breed draws the black-and-white creatures back to land in huge numbers.
The large coastal colonies breed, nest, and raise a single puffling while socializing and fishing to feed their young.
While the puffin population frequents Maine, you can also find them on the coasts of Norway and the British Isles.
Canada’s Newfoundland and Labrador is home to the largest Atlantic puffin colony in North America, with over 350,000 puffins visiting the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve every year.
The puffins lift off the water each spring and start doing flyovers to check out the rocky cliffs below.
Their return for breeding is so punctual that one Norwegian island celebrates the occasion with an April 14 holiday known as Lundkommardag, or Puffin Arrival Day.
Spring’s ‘In The Air:’ Maine’s Popular Atlantic Puffins Are Returning To Shore In Annual Breeding Rite
By Ted Cohen
