Pensive Puffin

Puffins are thought to have got their name from the ‘puffiness’ of their cheeks.

They are very social birds, forming large colonies and are specially adapted to living on the open sea.

Puffins have a long life span for birds – about 20 years.

They mate for life. Each year the female lays one egg which both parents incubate.

Baby puffins are known as ‘pufflings’.

A group of puffins is known by a variety of names, including a ‘burrow’, ‘circus’, ‘colony’, ‘puffinry’, ‘gathering’ and an ‘improbability’.