Atlantic puffins spend most of their life at sea in isolation. Their plumage is the perfect camouflage. Their black backs make them hard to spot from flying predators and their white bellies hid them from underwater enemies. Each spring, the birds return to the cliff where they were born and find the previous year’s burrow and their mate. Although they are a social bird, it is typical to see one of the pair standing guard while the nest is built, during the 39 to 45 day incubation of their single egg and for an equal number of days during the chick’s fledging period. When the chick leaves the nest, it does not return for two to three years.
