Puffin
Puffins (Fratercula arctica)
Fratercula is the scientific name of a genus of the family of Auks. In German, the birds of this genus are known as Lunde. For the genus one counts three extant species, which are widespread in the northern hemisphere. It involves seabirds that feed primarily by diving for fish. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crevices among rocks or in burrows in the ground. The Horned Puffin and Tufted Puffin live in the northern Pacific, whereas the puffins found exclusively in the North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean.
Appearance and habitat
The species of the genus Fratercula have a stocky body, short wings, which are suitable for swimming under water, and a short tail. The plumage is predominantly black or black and white, the underside of the hull completely white. The beak falls in relation to body size thick. The roughly triangular in profile beak is massive, but narrow. It shows in the basal part of an enclosure of several ornamental horn structures, which are lacking in simplicity dress. The distal half is bright bright red or orange, after the breeding season but paler.
While giving the Fratercula alkene at their breeding sites especially many vocalizations of themselves, but when they fly over the water, they are quiet. Compared to other alkene, flying about 1.6 m above the water, Fratercula alkene fly relatively high at an altitude above water of about 10 m. Their wings can beat them in the air up to 400 times a minute and reach a speed of nearly 90 km / h
Nutrition
As the majority of the alkene feed the Fratercula alkene of fish and zooplankton, their nestlings feed mainly but several times a day with small fish. For the prey include sand eels, herring, capelin and daytime achievable schooling fish. Rare but also squid or different cods, especially pollack, cod and whiting. In the Arctic Ocean polychaetes and crustaceans are in addition to the fish fed regularly to the nestlings. In addition Coming to the winter months polychaetes and crustaceans may play a significant role in the diet.
The food search is immersed, the forward movement takes place under water with the wings. They carry the fish caught crosswise in its beak, by pushing them with the tongue against the upper beak, until the whole beak length is filled with fish.
Reproduction
All three Fratercula species breed in large colonies and cliffs, crevices among rocks or self-made caves. Some former or current breeding places are called " Puffin Island " refers to, for example Lundey in Iceland. During the caves of puffins and Horn Lunden about 75 cm to 1.5 m long, dig Tufted Lunde their caves of up to 3 m.
The nest is built by the male. Breeding pairs defend their nest cave and the male defends his partner. To the aggressive behavior of a part of a threatening posture, in which the body is almost horizontal to the ground, the elongated neck and far the head is lowered. One of the aggressive actions are mutual persecutions, grasping the beak or feathers on the head or neck.
The egg is incubated by both parents birds. Incubation period is 35-45 days. The chuck is held the nestlings or dropped in the nest cavity. In contrast to all other members of the family Alcidae the nestlings find food on the floor in the dark. To this end, the nestlings sweep the ground from around her with his beak once they are dried after hatching.
After the breeding season the Fratercula alkene - wintering often far from coasts and often south of the hatchery.
Inventory and risk
BirdLife International is the stock of puffins in Europe for 1990-2003 with 5.7 to 7.3 million pairs. By far the largest backlog Iceland with 3.0-4.0 million pairs. Large populations also live in Norway with 1.5-2.0 million couples in the UK with 621,000 and the Faroe Islands with 550,000 pairs.
In Iceland and the Faroe Islands Puffins are caught and eaten by the people on a large scale. Beginning of the 20th century about 270,000 birds were caught annually in the Faroe Islands, in the 1970s are still around 100,000 per year. In the vast majority of these animals are young birds, the impact on the stock size is, therefore, apparently at least in vital colonies very low. In contrast, the decline of stock on islands off the coast of Brittany, returned in the St. Lawrence Gulf and the Gulf of Maine on an overuse of breeding colonies by humans.
The stock of the Horn Lunde to 1.2 million breeding birds estimated. About 62 % of the world's stock breed on islands off the Alaska Peninsula. In the area of the Sea of Okhotsk brooding about 16 % of the global population. The largest Asian colony located on the Talan Island in the Sea of Okhotsk, where about 100000-120000 breeding birds are counted. The largest collection of about 350,000 breeding birds is on the Semidi Islands.
In the area between Akutan and Unimak Iceland Iceland live 800000-1 million Tufted Lunde. On Egg Iceland is located there with 163,000 breeding birds the largest colony of this kind, the Asia's largest colony located on the Commander Islands with more than 20,000 breeding birds and on the Talan Island with 80,000 breeding birds. Cause of stock decline on several breeding islands is drowning in fishing nets, introduced predators and disturbance by humans.