Tufted Puffin

They always nest on rocky cliffs. Their nest is an uncomplicated hole they dig with their beak and feet. The back of the nest widens into a hollow where the female lays one white egg with pale lavender or brown spotting. Also they may nest in the nooks and crannies of the rocks along the shoreline. They line the nest with dry grasses, other vegetation or feathers. The birds are active during the day and easily seen flying near land close to the water's surface, searching for food and circling the breeding colonies at dusk feed their young. While flying they appear to look like flying cigars. Both parents incubate the egg and feed the growing chick through the summer. After mating the female usually lays a single egg in the month of June. The eggs are incubated by both parents for about seven weeks after which the egg hatches. After the chick is six to eight weeks of it begins to fly and leaves the nest.

During the years past the natives of the coasts and islands of the north netted puffins and used their bodies for food and the skins for clothes. The puffin's skin is tough and is sewn with the feather on the inside to make coats or parkas.

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