Have you ever noticed that puffins often simultaneously carry multiple fish in their beaks at once?

It’d be something like this:

I thought this was interesting, and I had so many questions, including:

• Do they catch them all in one scoop?
• How come the fish are so organized?
• Do they hide their food while catching other fish?
• Is this a ‘flex’?
• What type of fish do they mostly catch?
• The why
• Conclusion

Below, I attempt to answer each question (for Atlantic Puffins specifically).

Do they catch them all in one scoop?

According to this Oxford University study, the answer is no. Puffins make multiple dives per hunt (a.k.a. bout), catching about 1 fish in each dive. They average about 25 dives per hunt.

How come the fish are so organized?

According to BBC, in this article, puffins stack fish in their beaks using a combination of their tongue and beaks.

Their beaks contain ‘tentacles’, which are like small teeth that keep the fish in place. And they use their tongues to push up existing fish while opening their mouths to catch new ones.

Do they hide their food while catching other fish?

No, they mostly just keep it in their beaks.

Is this a ‘flex’?

It doesn’t seem like it. Their mating/courtship protocol doesn’t usually involve fish. But since I haven’t found too much evidence of that, I’d say that’s up for investigation!

What type of fish do they mostly catch?

According to this Oxford University study, they mostly feed on sand eel.

The why

According to this study in Iceland and this BBC article, other birds, such as Skuas and Gulls (aka Seagulls) would literally try to steal the fish off of the Puffins' mouths. And if some fish fall, these two birds, or other birds, would get it.

So the short answer is: They keep it in their mouths to keep it safe for their children.

Interestingly, Puffins only lay one egg a year. So they have to be extra careful with that food.

It’s kind of heroic; they’re fighting for their baby’s (singular) life. They could just eat the fish and abandon their baby/chick, but they choose not to. It’s also worth mentioning that puffins are tiny, they’re smaller than a Subway sandwich (11 inches tall), and weigh less than a soda can (380 g). So other birds can really mess them up. Which makes this whole thing even more heroic.

I understand that this is a childlike view, if you look at it from a scientific view, they’re just keeping their species from going extinct. But I guess we could still learn a thing or two from them.

Conclusion

Puffins feed on Sea Eels (fish) and carry a bunch of them around either for themselves or for their chick (they lay one egg a year). Because it would be too dangerous to leave it on the ground otherwise.

They sound like great parents and deserve a round of Ululation. Kolololoooosh

Side note:

While looking into this, I found out that there’s another type of bird that stacks fish in their beak! The bird’s name is the Razorbill (a.k.a. Alca torda). Here is a picture of it carrying fish like a puffin:

But according to this study (the same Oxford study mentioned above) puffins do tend to carry more fish overall. Razorbills can carry 2 to 10 fish, whereas puffins can carry up to 50!

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Updated: 8 October, 2024
Created: 24 July, 2020