Do all puffin species mate for life?
Why do puffins get divorced?
How do puffins attract mates?
How many times do puffins mate each year?
What happens when a Puffin mate dies?
Do puffins migrate with their mates?
Do puffins grieve the loss of a mate?
Do puffins stay together like family?
Do puffins mate with their siblings?
The much-loved puffin is an iconic bird known for its erratic behavior and distinctive beak and feathers. There are three species of puffins in the Alcid family (puffins), but the most common is the Atlantic puffin. Puffins are hardworking birds that live in challenging environments, but do puffins mate for life?
Puffins are monogamous, and pairs stay together for successive breeding seasons. In most cases, couples stay together for life, possibly up to 15 years, as puffins don’t breed until they are about five years old.
Puffins, like most monogamous birds, are still likely to divorce, although the divorce rate is only about 7%. Divorce can occur if a pair of puffins fails to raise chicks or if one of them becomes ill.
Raising puffin chicks is intensive work as it takes about 40 days for the chicks to leave their burrows. Also, female puffins only lay one egg – so the risk is high. Thus, males and females work together to raise the chicks and collaborate on everything from hatching to brooding and feeding.
Of course, there’s still so much to learn about this amazing bird – read on to find out!
Puffins often mate for life, as does all species
Do all puffin species mate for life?
There are three types of puffins, Atlantic puffins, horned puffins and tufted puffins. All three were reportedly monogamous and formed lifelong partnerships.
The divorce rate is also very low, less than 10%, which is definitely lower than the average for monogamous birds.
Interestingly, despite only spending about 1/3 of the year with each other during the breeding season, puffins form strong bonds. The rest of the time they were out at sea, very lonely, mostly alone.
A pair of horned puffins perched together
Why do puffins get divorced?
If puffins fail to raise a chick in consecutive breeding seasons, or if a bird becomes ill, they will divorce. Ornithologists consider divorce to be an adaptive behavior, meaning that birds have learned that divorce offers better prospects than sticking with a suboptimal mate.
Although most puffins form lifelong partnerships, some pairs inevitably divorce. The divorce rate is around 7% to 15%, which is low among other monogamous birds.
In fact, seabirds, including puffins, tend to have very low divorce rates. Additionally, the Alcid family has a low divorce rate and includes puffins, guillemots, puffins, puffins, and puffins. Raising baby birds at sea is dangerous – couples must work closely together to be successful.
A pair of tufted puffins watching from their perch
How do puffins attract mates?
Puffin courtship originally occurred at sea, and little is known about how pair bonds are formed between young birds that have just reached sexual maturity. During the breeding season, puffins flock to islands and coastal environments in flocks.
Birds that paired last season will reunite at sea or on land. The males head to the same burrow they used the previous season and grunt to attract their mates while shaking their heads back and forth. The guttural voice has been described as pig-like.
Once the female joins him, they rub their beaks together to greet each other and re-establish a pairing bond. Interestingly, experienced pairs often re-pair at sea so they are ready to lie down as soon as they come ashore.
Courtship rituals of Atlantic puffins in summer in Scotland, UK
How many times do puffins mate each year?
Puffins mate once a year. First, the female lays an egg in a burrow, and the male and female incubate together for more than 40 days—a long incubation period.
Males and females cooperate in almost all aspects of raising a single puffin chick (also known as a puffin). This makes for a high success rate for first-timers—about 80% to 90% in one study.
This is the case for all three species of puffins.
close up a puff
What happens when a Puffin mate dies?
If a puffin’s mate dies, it is thought they will re-mate the next breeding season. There’s little evidence of what’s actually going on, but with about 10 to 15 percent of adult birds dying each year, it’s inevitable that some birds are mateless.
Re-mating can happen at sea, but it can also happen on land, when a male or female realizes that his/her mate has not returned.
Do puffins migrate with their mates?
Most puffins are solitary during migration, temporarily separated from their mates. Puffins migrate to the sea in winter. Most head to warmer waters, but some remain fairly close to their breeding grounds.
It’s not clear why puffins become so solitary during their winter migrations. However, a study has found that some pairs of puffins follow similar migratory routes — and that these pairs are also more successful during breeding season.
We’re still not sure what puffins do when they leave their breeding grounds for the winter. They can rest and sleep on the water for up to 8 months!
Most puffins are solitary during migration, temporarily separated from their mates
Do puffins grieve the loss of a mate?
There’s no evidence that puffins mourn, but it’s certainly possible that some sort of period of mourning occurs before they choose to re-mate with another bird.
Many monogamous birds do mourn the loss of a mate, most notably mute swans and albatrosses, which can take up to 3 years to re-pair with another bird after losing a mate.
Do puffins stay together like family?
Once the puffins have fledged their wings and left the nest, they go to sea, where they stay for up to 3 to 5 years. A baby puffin may not set foot on land for the first 3 years of its life.
Puffins take 4 to 5 years to reach sexual maturity and spend most of their time at sea. Puffins that are 4 or 5 years old will travel to breeding colonies for adults, but may not be mating that year – they usually just hang out and watch around the breeding colony.
Atlantic puffin colony on the cliffs of Grimsey island, Iceland
Do puffins mate with their siblings?
There is no evidence that puffins mate with their siblings. In fact, inbreeding in birds is rare and only occurs when birds are under extreme pressure to mate, for example, when overall populations are declining rapidly due to habitat loss.
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I am broadly interested in how human activities influence the ability of wildlife to persist in the modified environments that we create.
Specifically, my research investigates how the configuration and composition of landscapes influence the movement and population dynamics of forest birds. Both natural and human-derived fragmenting of habitat can influence where birds settle, how they access the resources they need to survive and reproduce, and these factors in turn affect population demographics. Most recently, I have been studying the ability of individuals to move through and utilize forested areas which have been modified through timber harvest as they seek out resources for the breeding and postfledging phases. As well I am working in collaboration with Parks Canada scientists to examine in the influence of high density moose populations on forest bird communities in Gros Morne National Park. Many of my projects are conducted in collaboration or consultation with representatives of industry and government agencies, seeking to improve the management and sustainability of natural resource extraction.
