- 3
#1
- Courtesy USFWS
- A breeding pair at St Paul Island
in Alaska
Horned Puffins are migratory seabirds of open ocean waters in the winter and coastal islands and rocky cliffs in the summer breeding season. The ‘horned’ part of their common name is derived from the small, dark, fleshy, horn-like projection above the eye that is present in breeding season.
Facts and Features
- Geographic Distribution
Summer: Gulf of Alaska, Aleutian Islands, Bering and Chukchi Seas, Sea of Okhotak, Kuril Islands, rarely British Columbia. Winter offshore in the central and north Pacific Ocean. Rarely in southern California in late spring.
- Amazing Facts
Historically, puffins were used for food and clothing by some Alaskan and Canadian native people such as the Aleuts and the Inuits. Reversible parkas made from the skins of about 45 puffins were worn feathers outside in rainy weather and feathers inside in cold dry weather. Bills were used as ornaments on clothing, in children’s rattles, and on mittens worn in ceremonial dances.
- At the Aquarium
The lights in our Diving Birds Habitat are operated by a computer program that changes the amount of light in the exhibit to match that in their far north natural environment where the summer days of the breeding season are long and the winter at sea days very short. During the winter the habitat becomes dark at about 4 PM.
