Rescuing Puffins in South Iceland

[j44ke]

Really nice video of teenagers rescuing pufflings (young puffins) that get dazzled by lights and lost in town on their island of Vestmannaeyjabær off the southern coast of Iceland.

Iceland is currently experiencing a seismic event in the vicinity of Grindavik which is close to the southwest tip of Iceland's mainland and about an hour's drive south of Reykjavik. But the video doesn't have anything to do with the current events. Puffling rescues are an annual midsummer occurrence.

[robin3mj]

Thanks for posting. My kids are very interested in puffins; we spent two (winter) nights in Iceland on a stopover to London a few years back and hope to do a bigger trip in milder weather some year soon.

Fingers crossed this seismic and volcanic event blows over quietly. After the recent eruptions that have turned into Instagram events in past years, this one appears to be no joke.

[j44ke]

Thanks for posting. My kids are very interested in puffins; we spent two (winter) nights in Iceland on a stopover to London a few years back and hope to do a bigger trip in milder weather some year soon.

Fingers crossed this seismic and volcanic event blows over quietly. After the recent eruptions that have turned into Instagram events in past years, this one appears to be no joke.

You can go to Nova Scotia (Cape Breton's Bird Islands) or Newfoundland and see them there too. Same puffins species and maybe a bit more affordable.

A bit closer is Machias Seal Island near Cutler, ME. There are boat tours from Cutler out to the island. That's a really nice trip in good weather. Tons of puffins and the boat crew is very good at getting everyone a nice view of them. Always good to have binoculars though.

Most of these islands don't allow people so the habitat can be preserved (and no rats can hop ashore) so these trips are boat only.

Iceland has numerous puffin nesting spots, both islands and cliffs. The puffins don't nest on the cliff face. Instead they nest in earthen burrows along the top edge of the cliffs or on grassy slopes leading down to the cliff edge. The bird cliffs of the Westfjords area are some of the best, but you have to time your visits for the late afternoon/early evening when the adult puffins return from the ocean to feed their young. We also saw a ton of puffins between Brjánslækur and Stykkishólmur. If you wanted a fun vacation, take that ferry to Flatey Island (half way point) and stay for a couple days to see puffins and maybe even killer whales.

[htwoopup]

On a somewhat related note...my daughter's first dog when she was 8 was a Norwegian Lundehund. I had said no to a dog...apartment, kid shuttling between parents, etc. She researched it and found a dog that took away every single argument. The breed was developed to hunt puffins. As a result, each paw has 6 toes which enable it to climb the rock walls of the fjord to get at the birds. And, he could touch its nose to his back because the neck was sort of double jointed so when they got a bird they could snap back their head and subdue/do in the puffin without harming the feathers which were why the Norwiegians wanted to hunt them. I know this is a lateral arabesque from the thread and a bit depressing but the good news is that on two occasions he saved my daughter's life when she was going into diabetic shock and he alerted me (without any training for that) so I could get her glucagon and an ambulance. On both occasions, by the time we got back from the hospital hours and hours later he was waiting patiently next to her bed. Great dog and sorely missed member of the family.

[j44ke]

One thing that does come through when you visit a site where puffins nest is how vulnerable they actually are. The odds are against them, what with marauding seabirds like skuas and gulls and high winds pummeling the spot they are aiming to land. When we were at the bird cliffs in the Westfjords the first day, the winds were strong enough we could barely stand up in some places. Those birds are built like bowling pins for a reason. Add human beings, who seem to put everything into their mouths, and it is amazing that puffins have made it this long.