Tufted Puffin Across the Pond

How truly extraordinary and thrilling it must have been for the first “twitcher” who sighted the Tufted Puffin so entirely out of its range.   Yes, so far out of its range that it was not even in their bird guides!

Typically seen in the Pacific Northwest, what was the Tufted Puffin doing across the Atlantic Ocean in Great Britain and Scotland? Flying and eating and sleeping and wondering what happened to its GPS system perhaps.

Thanks to Ilene Samowitz of SeattleAudubon.org

Tufted Puffin-Fratercula cirrhata Tweeters and Twitchers alike marveled at the sight.  But even as word spread around the world and birders converged from everywhere to see this fascinating and OUT-of-Place bird, people were talking about which bird guide to look in to confirm the identification of the Tufted Puffin. But this puffin is quite distinctive with its golden blond tufts of feathers on its head and its black belly. Most puffins have white bellies. And even so are not often seen in these locales. An interesting historical note is the naming of this charming little chubby looking bird by a German ornithologist around 1769. Peter Simon Pallas apparently named the Tufted Puffin “Tufted Little Brother”. Fratercula =Little brother and cirrhata = tufted. They eat mostly small fish. Their normal region is Alaska and the Aleutian Islands and the Pacific Northwest.  So seeing them in England was quite a treat, a “lifer” for many delighted birders for sure.

Public Domain Illustration Tufted Puffin

I love the detail in this illustration of this charming little bird of the Pacific Northwest. I have seen the little puffins that frequent the coast of Maine and truly fell in love with them. What I found most interesting was the online exchange of which bird guides people should use to find good photos for field identification of these rare birds in England.  The exchange of information was at Twitter speed and that only made the excitement even more intense. No matter whether you are a birder in the Midwest or in the Everglades or just in your backyard, it is thrilling to share in such a discovery. And the most frequent  bird guide mentioned was the Guide to Birds of the Pacific Northwest Coast. That made so much sense! So I looked it up online to find the Bird Guide and I agreed this is a great guide for finding and identifying the Tufted Puffin. But how many British birders carry such a far ranging bird guide with them into the field?

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Related posts:

1. Pacific Northwest Coast Bird Guide