Two Puffins Taking Flight
by Carla Parris
Title
Two Puffins Taking Flight
Artist
Carla Parris
Medium
Photograph - Digital Photograph
Description
Puffins are more at home on the water than flying, or at least than taking off. They really struggle to get airborne, looking clumsy and awkward in the process. This is typical for birds that are seabirds.
This pair of Atlantic puffins was photographed off the coast of Maine, at Eastern Egg Rock, where the birds come in the spring and summer to nest. This is the most southernly point to which these generally cold weather birds travel.
Atlantic puffins, along with tufted and horned puffins, belong to the genus Fraternica, named after an old Latin word meaning friar. This nomenclature is perfect, as these stout, sturdy little birds look like rotund monks, with their black and white robe-like coloring.
Puffins are called clowns of the sea, or clowns of the ocean, which is understandable, given their distinctive colorful curved beaks, and their very clown-like jet black cross-shaped eyes on white cheeks and sides.
Uploaded
November 26th, 2022
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