Can Puffins Fly? (Complete Guide)

The much-loved and iconic puffin is a small to medium-sized seabird with a distinctive white face and large orange and yellow beak.puffins from Perch family This family includes a variety of seabirds, also known as puffins or puffins, of which there are three species – the Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica), the horned puffin (Fratercula corniculata) and the tufted or crested puffin (Fratercula cirrhata).

These seabirds may not be known for their ability to fly, so can puffins fly?

Puffins are excellent fliers, both in the air and underwater. With their short, powerful wings, puffins can reach speeds in excess of 55 mph (88 km/h), and at full speed, their wings beat about 400 times per minute! This ultra-fast wing action enables puffins to “fly” underwater, and they have been known to dive to depths of about 60 meters (200 feet).

Like many other birds in the guillemot family, puffins are more skilled and accomplished on the water than in the air, although puffins are probably one of the most capable of flying of all the puffins.

Puffins primarily fish underwater, which is why they evolved to dive, but they spot prey by quickly scanning the ocean from a distance of about 10 meters above the surface. Read on to discover more about the flight abilities of this much-loved, eccentric bird.

Atlantic, or common puffin in flight

How far can puffins fly?

Puffins spend about eight months of the year at sea and then form large colonies during the breeding season, usually from April to August.

All three species of puffins migrate to sea in winter, where they face harsh weather conditions in the open Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, so while puffins are not generally considered migratory birds, it would be unfair to say they cannot fly long distances or cannot. Fly well. Some puffins travel hundreds of miles and may roam great distances thousands of miles outside of breeding season.

Puffins are usually solitary when at sea, and their migration routes vary widely. A study of Atlantic puffin populations in the UK found that some move north in winter, ending up in the North Atlantic or Greenland, while others move south to the Mediterranean!

The situation is similar for horned and tufted puffins, which are not strictly migratory animals, but tend to spend their winters far out at sea.

Puffins fly hundreds of miles during their winter, presumably spending most of their time flying rather than floating at sea. While puffins are notoriously bad at flying long distances, they are quite adept at navigating the high seas, which is how they return to the same colony year after year, often returning to the exact same burrow to breed.

puffins fly in the sky

How fast do puffins fly?

Puffins are much faster than the average seabird of its size. Atlantic puffins can fly at speeds of up to 55 mph (88 km/h), and to maintain this speed, their wings beat 400 times a minute!

Puffins need to flap their wings so quickly because they have short stocky bodies and short wings – they can’t soar like albatrosses or seagulls, and tend to fly close to the ocean at altitudes of around 10 metres.

At full speed, puffins are notoriously illegible and they look like a football in flight – their flapping wings become indistinct!

Their fast wing speed also enables puffins to dive underwater and maintain momentum for up to 1 minute, enough to catch multiple fish in one dive. Some puffins have been recorded diving to depths of about 60 meters (200 ft), catching several fish in the process.

flock of tufted puffins

How high can puffins fly?

Puffins are not good for soaring – their wings are too short and too heavy. Like other puffins (birds of the guillemot family), they evolved shorter wings to help them dive and swim. Therefore, puffins do not fly above the surface of the sea, nor can they fly to very high altitudes.

During flight, puffins tend to maintain a comfortable position of 10 meters above the surface of the sea (unless they are traveling to and from a cliffside perch) – this is still much higher than other puffins, which prefer to stay about 1.5 to 2.0 meters above the surface The height of the ocean in meters.

A horned puffin flies low over the sea

How long can puffins fly?

Puffins haven’t evolved for long-distance flight, and their wings are relatively short for their size and weight. That’s why puffins have to flap their wings so hard and fast to reach full speed—they can’t generate the lift that soaring seabirds like gulls and albatrosses do.

Having said that, puffins must be able to fly long distances, as they have been shown to maintain fairly complex and long-distance migration routes. During the winter, Atlantic puffins that breed in Europe migrate north, east, south and west out to sea in various directions, many traveling hundreds or thousands of miles in the process.

Some of the puffins traveled across the Atlantic and ended up in New York, while others went to Morocco!

The situation is similar in North America, with puffins found as far south as California, across Alaska and Canada, or as far as the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The migratory routes of puffins are thought to be genetically programmed because of their innate ability to sail independently and not follow others, although they also gather at sea in groups called rafts.

Atlantic puffin in flight has mouth full of fish

Are puffins good at flying?

Unlike many birds in the puffin family, puffins are competent fliers. They can reach high speeds of 55 mph (88 km/h) and have often been observed flying over the ocean’s surface at breakneck speed.

Although they evolved for diving and swimming rather than flying, puffins are better at flying than many other seabirds in the same family.

Collectively, puffins can be mistaken for poor flight abilities.

puffin looking for food

At what age can puffins start to fly?

Puffins fledge in about 34 to 60 days, and shortly thereafter, they head out to sea on their own.

As puffins grow and develop, they will roam the ocean for about 2 to 5 years, finding a partner along the way with whom they mate for life.

During this time, young puffins have little, if any, contact with land; they eat, sleep, and rest in the open ocean.

Juvenile Atlantic Puffin, or Puffin

Do puffins migrate?

During the typical breeding season around April to August, puffins tend to only spend 2 to 3 months settling on the island.

At the time of the 2009 survey, puffin colonies could number in the millions of birds, the largest of which was probably Iceland’s Westman Islands, which had 1.1 million puffin nests.

Outside of breeding season, puffins embark on a typically solitary ocean adventure and have all but disappeared from their large colonies.

For years, scientists and researchers have puzzled over exactly where puffins go outside of the breeding season, but studies using tracking locators have found that many North American colonies migrate north to the North Atlantic during the winter, while others head south Migrate to California.

European populations migrated south to Morocco and the Mediterranean Sea, north to Greenland or west to the Atlantic Ocean.

Migration patterns of puffins appear to be highly individualistic, with apparently no uniform migration preferences. While puffins spend most of this time alone or in pairs, they also form large floating flocks, called rafts, where they forage together.

Juvenile puffins spend most of their youth at sea, and some do not touch land until they are sexually mature about three years later.

A large flock of puffins off the coast of Northumberland, UK

Can Puffins Swim?

All three species of puffins are master swimmers. With their fairly compact and buoyant bodies, short powerful wings, and large webbed feet, puffins have evolved to swim and dive. They can dive to depths of over 60 meters (200 feet) and easily hold their breath for a full minute or more.

When diving, puffins can catch multiple fish – some have been observed emerging from the water with as many as 10 in their mouths! When swimming, puffins use their large, webbed feet and wings as propellers and rudders to hurl torpedoes through the water at incredible speeds.

Puffin swimming in the sea

Can’t puffins fly?

Absolutely not! Because of its similarity to penguins, puffins might be considered poor and incompetent fliers, or even flightless.

The same can be said for most members of the guillemot family. In fact, puffins are so good at flying that they can reach speeds of 55 mph (88 km/h) while swooping over the ocean. Once prey is spotted, puffins dive into the water at high speed like a torpedo and use their wings to fly underwater.

Puffins flying in the sky

Can puffins swim or fly?

Puffins can both swim and fly. Although puffins spend most of their lives afloat rather than on land, they still fly around to their spring roosting and breeding grounds.

Despite their short and thin wings, puffins are still able to fly at high speeds – although reaching top speed requires puffins to flap their wings at an extraordinary rate of 400 times per minute! Therefore, puffins cannot withstand high-speed light for long periods of time.