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Atlantic Puffin | Fratercula arctica
Papegaaiduiker | Frailecillo atlántico
The familiar clown of the North Atlantic breeding cliffs spends the winter far out at sea, and a small part of the population drifts south to off the coast of Morocco and into the western Mediterranean. Anyone who sees one in the region usually sees an inconspicuous bird in winter plumage, or an exhausted wanderer on the beach.
Voice
Silent at sea. Only in the breeding colony does a deep, drawn-out groan, arr-uh-arrrr, come from the burrows; it is not heard in the region.
Recording: Stein Ø. Nilsen — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · shortened to the first 60 s, mono · xeno-canto
Identification
Small and stocky, with a large round head, a short neck and black upperparts and collar above white underparts. In summer plumage a deep, triangular bill with blue-grey, yellow and red plates, a pale grey face mask and bright orange legs. In winter plumage, the plumage seen in the region, the outer bill sheath is shed: the bill becomes smaller and duller, the face dark grey and the legs paler. In flight note the dark underwing, the round head and the fast, whirring wingbeat. First-winter birds have a clearly narrower, dark bill.
Confusion species
Razorbill (Alca torda) is larger, with a longer, pointed tail, a white underwing and a white trailing edge to the arm. Common Murre (Uria aalge) is larger still and slimmer, with a dagger-shaped bill and also a white underwing. At a distance on the sea a winter Atlantic Puffin can also resemble a small duck such as Common Scoter (Melanitta nigra), but that lacks the white underparts.
Habitat
In winter the open sea, often well beyond the continental shelf, where it dives for small fish and zooplankton. Only comes near the coast after severe storms, and then often weakened.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the habitats of North Africa and the Middle East.
Range and movements
Morocco: rare but regular winter visitor far off the Atlantic coast and in the Strait of Gibraltar and the Alboran Sea; weakened or dead birds are sometimes washed ashore, such as one at Casablanca in January 2022. Algeria and Tunisia: small numbers on the open sea in the western Mediterranean, where ringed and tracked British birds winter, but hardly ever seen from the coast. Israel: one bird on the Mediterranean coast in September 2018, more than 1,500 km further east than any earlier recovery of a British or Irish ringed bird in the Mediterranean. No records are known from the other countries. Breeds from Brittany and the British Isles via Iceland and Norway to Greenland and eastern Canada; winters widely across the North Atlantic.
- Resident
- Winter visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
- Passage (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
A pelagic trip or the ferry through the Strait of Gibraltar in December – February gives the best chance; after a winter storm, search the tideline of Atlantic beaches for stranded auks. Report any sighting to the Moroccan rarities committee.
Conservation status
Globally Vulnerable: the European population, the bulk of the world total, has declined steeply as sandeels and other prey fish disappeared through warming seas and overfishing, with failed breeding seasons in Iceland and Norway. At sea, wintering birds are at risk from oil pollution and severe winter storms. No specific threats are known within the region.
Scientific name
Fratercula arctica | (Linnaeus, 1758)
Linnaeus described the species in 1758 as Alca arctica; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Fratercula was introduced in 1760 by Brisson. Fratercula is Medieval Latin for 'little friar', after the black-and-white plumage that recalls monastic robes. arctica means 'northern', from Greek arktos 'bear', a reference to the constellation of the Great Bear in the northern sky. The specimen the first description was based on came from Norway.