Baby Puffins (Pufflings) (Complete Guide with Pictures)

There are three types of puffins fraternity genus and Atlantic puffins (arctic banyan) is the most familiar.

You probably know what a puffin looks like, and maybe you’ve been lucky enough to see these beautiful seabirds in person, but do you know what their babies look like?

Little puffins (Pufflings) are rarely seen because they stay underground until ready to fly. So, in this article, we’ll introduce you to baby puffins, what they look like, and how they start a new life!

What does a baby puffin look like?

Puffins hatch with their eyes open and are covered in soft feathers. Their feathers are wet at first, but the babies quickly dry out into a fluffy ball of down. Most of their plumage is black or very dark gray, although their belly is white and their legs and feet are black.

Read on to learn more about the Puffling’s size and its weight.

Closeup of a young pavlin emerging from the nest

How big is a puffin?

Female puffins lay just one large egg, which accounts for an impressive 15 percent of their body weight. Puffins are relatively large when hatched. The fluffy little puff fits nicely in the palm of your hand during its first few days, but grows quickly on a diet of fresh, protein-rich fish.

How much does a puffin weigh?

Baby puffins weigh less than two ounces when they hatch. Their average weight varies by flock, with most chicks weighing about 1.4 ounces (40 grams), about the mass of a large sparrow.

Chicks weigh 9.5 – 12.5 oz (270 – 360 g) when fledged. Interestingly, they are much heavier (8-10%) than this at 4 weeks of age. During the last two weeks before their chicks emerge, puffin parents start feeding their chicks less.

Once independent, immature puffins will continue to gain weight until they reach full adult size at about five years of age.

Newborn puffin chicks (Puffling) spread their wings

Why are Icelanders throwing puffins off cliffs?

Throwing baby birds off cliffs may sound cruel, but Icelanders do it to help puffins, not hurt them. Puffer fish leave their nests at night and go out to sea by moonlight.

Artificial lights in ports and towns near breeding grounds can confuse young birds, causing them to head in the wrong direction.

Caring people catch these befuddled chicks and release them the next day. Puffins are ready to fly when they leave the nest, and it’s not uncommon for them to leap off cliff tops!

Atlantic puffin adults next to their chicks

What do juvenile puffins look like?

Juvenile puffins look very similar to non-breeding adults, although they don’t reach full size for several years.

But what do unbreeding puffins look like?

Puffins are not as colorful as when they are nesting in winter. Non-breeding adults have a black face, only the front half of the beak is orange. They don’t have their characteristic clown-like facial coloration.

If you look closely, you may notice the following differences between juvenile puffins and non-breeding adults:

• Juveniles have deeper knowledge (the area between the bill and the eyes)
• Puffins have darker shadows around their eyes
• The dark band on the front of the neck of an immature puffin is brown
• Juvenile puffins have narrower beaks

Close up portrait of juvenile puffin

What do you call a little puffin?

Small puffins have the delightful name Pufflings. You can also call them fledglings when they first hatch, when they grow up in their underground nest, and when they first fly out into the wide world.

What do baby puffins eat?

Most puffins eat only small fish, such as herring and sand gunpowder, although sometimes their parents bring in small crustaceans. Hungry chicks swallow their food whole.

Young puffins beg for food with a high-pitched squeak, which is very different from the low-pitched growl of adults. Puffin parents feed their chicks 2 to 10 times a day, depending on the puffin’s age. They bring in the most food when their chicks are about 4 weeks old.

Puffins return to nest with fish to feed chicks

How do puffins feed their chicks?

Puffins catch fish at sea and bring them back to their nests, usually while the food is still wriggling. They hunt by swimming underwater at high speed and grabbing fish with their beaks. Most of their fishing takes place near the colony, although they may need to travel farther when food is scarce.

Puffins have the incredible ability to bring several fish back to their nest at the same time. Most American puffins bring back fewer than 10 fish per trip, but a high-achieving puffin parent from Scotland set a record with over 60 fish!

Puffin parents feed their puffins directly from their mouths, but leave the rest of the fish on the floor and let the babies eat on their own time. When the chick grows up, its parents deposit food at the entrance of the burrow for the chick to collect.

Young Atlantic puffin swimming in the sea

Do both parents feed baby puffins?

When nesting, pairs of puffins work together, sharing all the responsibility for raising the chicks. Puffin parents both feed on puffins.

How many babies does a puffin have?

Puffin pairs have only one chick per year. This makes each chick precious, so puffin parents work hard to provide for their babies.

Puffins don’t breed until they are four or five years old, but these young seabirds can live for more than thirty years if they are lucky. Adults typically mate with the same mate every year, and successful pairings can raise many chicks throughout their lives.

Puffin chicks are called Pufflings

How long do baby puffins stay with their parents?

Puffins spend about six weeks in their nests. However, actual times may vary significantly. In years when fish is scarce, juveniles take longer to grow on a restricted diet. Chicks raised by a single parent also take longer to grow feathers.

Pufferfish leave at night when predators such as peregrine falcons and great black-backed gulls have a penchant for other seabirds.

The chicks are completely independent once they leave the nest, which means there are no more free meals for mom and dad. The puffins will spend the next few years at sea, only returning to their breeding grounds when they are fully grown.

Young puffins greeting parents back to their nest, Skomer Island, Wales, UK

Are puffins white?

Puffins are mostly black when hatched. Shaggy youngsters do have gray chests and white bellies, however.

When you think of baby puffins, you probably picture black and white birds with colorful faces, but these chicks look very different at first.

Many seabirds have white bellies and black backs. This pattern camouflages them from both underwater prey and predators that fly above the water.