Ken's Journal - Spring 2003
  You have to crack up when you hear a couple Puffins clomping over the top of your blind - this is NOT a graceful bird on land or in the air. On top of a blind it sounds like a kid stumbling around with flippers on his feet - picture clown-feet! To quote my bird book, "On the wing, it is a stubby, short-necked, thick-headed bird with a buzzy flight." Does that sound like graceful to you?

There are four blinds on the island. Here's the pair next to me - this also gives you and idea of the environment. The island is pretty much a boulder pile in the middle of the ocean. 

Look at all the Puffins on roof of the far blind. The people inside that one have got to be cracking up! It's got to sound like a dance review by a bunch of people with clown feet on!
 

The Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica) is a member of the Auk family (Family Alcidae). One of the family is already extinct, the Great Auk (similar in appearance to the Razorbill). Included in the family is the Atlantic Puffin, the Razorbill (Alca Torda), the Common Murre (Uria aalge), Dovekie (Alle alle) and Guillemot (Cepphus grylle). The Dovekie are uncommon as far south as MSI, and I saw none. The Guillemot is more of an inshore bird and wouldn't be seen this far offshore. All of the Auks have wings that appear too small for their bodies and are more suited for swimming than for flying - and it shows when they fly! They are very awkward when in the air -- or on the ground for that matter! The Puffins, Razorbills and Murres all nest in burrows or in the holes between/under the rocks on the shore.  

 

 

 

A Puffin Portrait. This one was about 12 feet to the side of the blind. This is breeding plumage. In the winter, the colors on the beak are less pronounced and the cheeks are grayer.
 
"There was nowhere to go but everywhere, keep rolling under the stars . . ." -- Jack Kerouac
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