To misquote Elvis, “Puffins ain’t the kind you love enough,” but they attract enough attention to fill several boats a day of visitors to Reykjavik, headed out to a harbor island where they congregate.
Our captain took pains to let us know that they are not big like penguins, nor even as cute as penguins…not even cartoon penguins. No one seemed fazed by the down-talk, although some of use were surprised by quite how small puffins actually are—if chickens wore clothes, puffins could share the wardrobe.
In any case, we were there on schedule, and they were there, too, and a good time was had by all…and lots of pictures. And even a few non-puffins.
I’d have to disagree with the captain: puffins look quite cute – especially when they waddle about awkwardly on the ground.
There is a large puffin colony on Lunga, one of the Treshnish Islands, off the West coast of Mull, Scotland. They are not scared of humans, as they consider them less dangerous than skuas, which are large sea birds that prey upon puffins
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I love how puffins fly. Sort of in an irregular zig-zag pattern, like birds just taking to their wings.