As a Puffin Patrol in Iceland is saving iconic sea

A small island, Rocky off Islanda is home to the world’s largest breeding colony of Atlantic Puffins.

When the breeding season is in full motion, about 1.5 million adults are paired and placed in scratches on the grassy coastal slopes on the rocky rocks of Heimoey Island.

After opening the boys, Pufffin mothers and fathers cost them about six weeks to take care of their babies, bringing small fish foods and leaving predators such as chickens. By the end of August or early September, the pufflings are mature enough to live on their own. Over four to five weeks, many young birds go to the sea. Their instinct is to go to the open ocean, where they will spend most of their lives. They leave in the darkness of the night to hide from the predators, led by the moon.

But sometimes flights lose their way. Heimoey’s only city received electricity about a century ago. Since then, amazed at night lights or involved in solid sea breeze, some new puffins have taken a wrong turn – towards the city.

Light pollution affects wildlife in dangerous ways, disrupting essential activities from pollination to mating. Some creatures, like these Atlantic Puffins (Fraternity), lose their orientation and cannot find their way to the ocean. Some may be attacked by predators; Others can die from hunger. Fortunately for these pufflings, the residents of Heimoey have taken a practical approach to addressing the problem.

Community -based puffling patrol seeks and rescues the lost birds. These guys – and the adults of the colony – are helping scientists study the mostly mysterious life of pufffins in the sea.

Puffling patrols saves lost birds

Equipped with lights lights, cardboard boxes and gloves, people go out after dark search for lost boys. They clean the backyards, parking lots and roofs – wherever the city’s bright glow competes with the moonlight.

At every night during the puffling season, a dozen or more small groups and individuals may be patrolling the city. The rescue of blocked birds is a long tradition on the island, though the attractive name of the Puffling Patrol has only been for a decade or more. Typically adolescents or younger children cleanse the night along with parents or grandparents who spend the tradition. (For the little ones, it’s a great excuse to stay late.)

Puffins are immersed from the sea surface to feed the food. They go down through the water as if they are flying. But adaptations that improve swimming, such as a winged wing, come at the expense of lifting ability, which leaves them vulnerable to other cats and predators on the ground.

In upside: birds are easy to catch. Usually only requires a brief chase to grab one. The bird is placed in a cardboard box and is taken at home. People are required to weigh their saved pufflings and record them on the puffling patrol website. (The only thing to take care of are the small claws, similar to the kitten of pufflings.)

Patrol often gets healthy rescuations – the big enough to live in the sea – on the rocks. From this height, the birds can catch a little air. They will fly as much as they are able before they land in the water, maybe 50 meters or more, the farther away the better. Some pufflings need a useful incentive – a push – from Cliffftop, while others take the initiative on their own.

However, some rescue needs extra care. As they wander around the city, pufflings sometimes fall into the port and end up oily polished by the local passenger ferry, cargo boats and fishing boats. Contaminated feathers must be cleaned to become waterproof again. Otherwise, the birds would not survive in the Atlantic of the North Frigid. Other pufflings may be injured or underestimated. And some may have left the house too early, before growing their adult plum.

These birds have been sent to the Puffin Rescue Center in Heimoey, led by Global Non -Profit of Sea Life. There is also a drop of decline for post -time arrivals, where pufflings will stay safe at night.

During the 2024 season, the Puffling Patrol saved more than 4,200 pufflings – this is approximately a bird for everyone in Heimoey.

The study of pufffins at sea is complicated

For about 420 of the saved birds, scientists placed a ring on the foot of the puffins. It is an id, allowing researchers to document the location of a bird whenever it is viewed and monitor their population.

Adult puffins develop a glowing ribbon beak and orange feet. This appearance of adults does not change much, except that the color of the beak becomes brighter during the breeding season. So the only way to recognize the exact age of a puffin is if it is labeled. With rings, scientists have learned that puffins can live at least 40 years.

Birds spend most of their lives in the open ocean. Observation of birds at sea is almost impossible, so much for puffins remains a mystery. Ecologists like Erpur Snær Hansen, who runs a team at the Southern Iceland Southern Nature Center, are curious to know how much puffins and where they go.

Junedo June, Hansen and colleagues briefly capture adults in their scratches-while controlling the eggs-and adapt to global sensors of global location. These geolocators reveal changes in the light of the day, which can be analyzed to mark the location of a bird within about 180 kilometers.

In Heimoey, only adult birds are currently labeled with these GLS devices, but other researchers in Scandinavia have begun tracing minors as well as learning about their movements after they left.

For about a decade, Hansen and other researchers have contributed to the GLS data to the Seatrack, a marine tracking project. The data is discovering what sailors do offshore, why there are fewer and fewer of them and what people can do to help them survive.

In Europe, where more than 90 percent of Atlantic pufffins reside, the species rank as endangered. The European population of about 7.8 million birds is projected to decrease by 50 to 79 percent between 2000 and 2065, within three generations of Puffin.

Puffins face a variety of threats. One of their main sources of food is the sand eel, a thin fish group with a look of colors. Sand eel populations are decreasing due to climate change and the overestimation of the industrial scale. Puffins must compete with sea life and carriages to reduce the number of these and other forage fish. When sand eels become scarce, pufffins need to work harder to find them. Puffins stressed this way often produces less boys. Another threat is pollution, including mercury, plastic and contaminants from transport.

Bird migration studies using sea data have identified countries in the North Atlantic, where the restriction of human activity and the advantage of pollution cleaning efforts can have a major impact.

For example, there is a vital nutrition land for about 5 million sea, including puffins and 20 other species, in the middle of the Atlantic. Species from at least 56 colonies that include 16 countries and regions come to the area during the sensitive melting period when the birds pour tired feathers. In 2021, a European consortium called the Osar Convention declared this country a protected maritime area: the North Atlantic stream and Evlanov Seamount. It is the first such area identified by following the data.

Awaiting a return home

Once the puffling season and empty scratches are over, Heimoey coastal rocks go smooth. Puffling patrol members capture lost sleep and share their favorite photos.

At the end of the Puffling 2024 season, three rescue could not be released and now live in a closure at the Puffin Salvation Center, where visitors can see their antiques.

Meanwhile, Iceland Puffin scholars patiently expect the return of bird wine. Adult puffins return to the same colony – even the same scratch – year after year. With the data collected by these birds, Hansen and other scientists will weave together the story of each Wanderer’s ocean journey.