Everyone loves puffins, and there’s a live PuffinCam on YouTube that operates 24 hours a day off the coast of Maine. Here are the facts:
This live puffin cam overlooks the “loafing ledge” on Seal Island, 21 miles off the coast of Maine. The loafing ledge is a prime spot for puffins to congregate, with plenty of “exit routes” in every direction in case a hawk or gull attacks.
Click the video and loaf with the Atlantic puffins (Fratercula arctica). Right now (12:30 pm) I think most of them are feeding, but later on they’ll be schmoozing on the ledge. Be sure to notice how they fly: it’s amazing these things can even take to the air! You’ll see other species loafing with the puffins, too.
Machias Seal Island is in fact territory (20 acres) disputed between the U.S. and Canada!
Machias Seal Island is a barren island and devoid of trees. Because of its location at the boundary between the Gulf of Maine and the Bay of Fundy, Machias Seal Island is fog-bound for many days of the year. It is also a sanctuary for seabirds such as Atlantic puffins, razorbills, common murres, common and Arctic terns, Leach’s storm-petrels, and common eiders.
Here’s the island on the horizon:
h/t: Jean
I once heard a witness contending that a black backed gull caught and swallowed a puffin whole on the wing. I never saw footage, but the idea is haunting. The idea that black backed gulls predate on puffins. I’d never have thought that.
But ten, I’ve seen birds swallowing prey you would not think possible. A year ago I saw a heron swallowing an unidentified mammal the size of a large domestic cat. I suspect is was a rock dassie, but it was too far to properly identify the mammal. However, it conveys credence to that story of a black backed gull swallowing a puffin whole.
Greater black-backed gulls (Larus marinus) are significant predators of puffins. As you say it is impressive the size of prey items that many birds are able to swallow successfully. Cormorants seem to particularly talented in this respect and there are many videos of them swallowing astonishingly large fish.
I love the Explore.org wildlife cams, and puffins, but I did not know about this puffin-cam. Great find! A few years ago, I went on a puffin-viewing boat tour in Maine—the only time I’ve ever seen them in person. It was on a small crab boat, its owner looking for a way to make a few dollars in the off-season. Great memory.
It amuses me no end that the photo of seal island ISN’T the bit in the foreground, with a seal on it.