The Puffins are Back!

Eline Van Aalderink

Puffins with Reykjavík in the background

Days are getting longer, jackets are getting thinner, and the sun is starting to exist again - which can only mean one thing... our favourite seabirds are waddling and flapping their way back into our lives! Welcome back, Atlantic Puffins, velkomin heim!

Winter Whereabouts

Where do they go during Winter?

Puffin on the sea

Since August last year, we have had to get through life without having the Atlantic puffin around. As true seabirds, puffins spend approximately eight months per year out on the open ocean, bobbing on the water and eating fish. They were built to be professional swimmers, with waterproof feathers, streamlined bodies, short wings, webbed feet for propulsion, and dense bones for ballast. And while their anatomy makes them less efficient at flight (they need to beat their wings 400 times per minute!), they travel impressive distances to reach their winter destinations. Some Icelandic puffins stay close to Greenland, others choose the waters off of Newfoundland, and a few prefer the warmer Mediterranean. Essentially, they are all over the North Atlantic Ocean. 

Fun fact: Interestingly, many individuals return to the exact same wintering spot year after year. They likely sense the magnetic field of the Earth and use the position of the sun and stars to navigate the vast ocean with these invisible maps.

The Return to Iceland

Summer is here!

Puffin in the air

When days start to stretch and temperatures increase, family life calls the puffins back to Iceland. Typically, the first puffins show up around late April, but in recent years we have caught some early birds at the end of March already!  By May, the whole population is back in full force. Everyone has hopefully found their lifelong partner back and completed the final touchups to the same burrows that they used to nest in the previous year. Both parents will stay until late August, raising their single puffling together until the family splits up and everyone goes back to enjoy some well deserved me-time out on the open sea again (partners go through a long-distance relationship in the winter). 

Puffin Postcodes

Where do they live near Reykjavík?

Two Puffins on the rocks

Reykjavík is not just home to a major part of the population of Icelandic people, it is also a popular living place among the puffins. A short boattrip from the harbour will transport you into the realm of the puffin, to one of the three islands that they populate:

  • Lundey: This literal puffin island (lundi is the Icelandic name for puffin) has a population of around 10,000 breeding pairs - plus countless other seabirds and the occasional seal.
  • Engey: With only 50-100 breeding pairs, Engey could be considered an up-and-coming breeding location. Its geography allows our captains to position the boats exceptionally close to the puffins on land and create unparalleled photography opportunities.
  • Akurey: 20,000 (!) breeding pairs call Akurey their home. Everywhere you look, puffins are floating on the water, flying overhead, and walking on land. It is impossible not to be impressed by the sheer population size of Atlantic puffins on this relatively small island. 
5 Puffins on the rocks.

We at Mr. Puffin are so excited for the season to begin so that we can meet lots and lots of puffins, and also passengers that share our passion for these beautiful, funny, and impressive birds. See you soon on one of our tours? Sjáumst!