puffin

puffin
/puf"in/, n.
any of several alcidine sea birds of the genera Fratercula and Lunda, having a short neck and a large, compressed, grooved bill, as F. arctica (Atlantic puffin), of the North Atlantic.
[1300-50; ME poffoun, poffin, puffon (cf. AL poffo, puffo); orig. uncert.]

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or sea parrot

Any of three species (family Alcidae) of diving birds with a large, brightly coloured, triangular beak.

Puffins nest in large colonies on seaside and island cliffs. Both parents carry up to 10 fish crosswise in the bill to the nest (a deep burrow); they feed the single chick for about six weeks. They then leave, and the chick waits alone for its flight feathers to grow, living on stored fat, and then flies out to sea by itself. The common, or Atlantic, puffin (Fratercula arctica) is about 12 in. (30 cm) long. The Pacific species are the horned puffin (F. corniculata) and the tufted puffin (Lunda cirrhata).

Common puffin (Fratercula arctica)

Ben Goldstein
Root Resources

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bird
also called  Bottlenose, or Sea Parrot,  
 any of three species of diving birds that belong to the auk family, Alcidae (order Charadriiformes). They are distinguished by their large, brightly coloured, triangular beaks. Puffins nest in large colonies on seaside and island cliffs, usually laying only one egg, in a burrow dug one or two metres (three to six feet) deep. Hatched in about six weeks, the young bird fattens on fish, supplied by both parents. After about six weeks of feeding, the parent birds desert their young, which then waits alone until it becomes thin and its flightfeathers have grown, and then it flies out to sea by itself. Puffins eat a variety of marine organisms. They are able to catch as many as ten small fish in succession and to carry them crosswise in the bill to the nest.

      The common, or Atlantic, puffin (Fratercula arctica) occurs on Atlantic coasts from the Arctic south to Brittany and Maine. It is about 30 centimetres (12 inches) long, black above, white below, with gray face plumage, red-orange feet, a blue-gray, yellow, and red bill, and horny plates of skin around the beak and on the eyelids. The horned puffin (F. corniculata) is a Pacific relative of the Atlantic species. Of more southerly Pacific distribution is the tufted puffin (Lunda cirrhata), which is black with red legs and bill, a white face, and straw-coloured plumes curving backward from behind the eyes.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Synonyms:
, (Alca Arctica)


Look at other dictionaries:

  • puffin — [ pyfɛ̃ ] n. m. • 1760; mot angl.; o. i. ♦ Oiseau de mer migrateur (procellariiformes), voisin du pétrel. ● puffin nom masculin (anglais puffin) Oiseau marin migrateur, voisin des pétrels, aux ailes longues et étroites, au plumage noirâtre ou… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Puffin — Puf fin (p[u^]f f[i^]n), n. [Akin to puff.] 1. (Zo[ o]l.) An arctic sea bird {Fratercula arctica}) allied to the auks, and having a short, thick, swollen beak, whence the name; called also {bottle nose}, {cockandy}, {coulterneb}, {marrot},… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Puffin — (Puffinus), bei Cuvier Untergattung von Sturmvogel (Familie der Langflügler), untere Schnabelspitze wie die obere abwärts gekrümmt, röhrenförmigen Nasenlöcher nicht verbunden, Schnabel länger; Art: Englischer od. Nordischer P. (P. arctica, P.… …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • puffin — N. Atlantic seabird, mid 14c., perhaps connected with puff on notion of appearance, or from some Celtic word (earliest association is with Cornwall and Scilly), and altered by influence of puff …   Etymology dictionary

  • puffin — ► NOUN ▪ a northern auk with a large head and a massive brightly coloured triangular bill. ORIGIN originally denoting a shearwater: apparently from PUFF(Cf. ↑puffer), with reference to a shearwater s fat nestlings …   English terms dictionary

  • puffin — [puf′in] n. [ME poffin < ? assoc. by folk etym. with PUFF, because of the enormous beak or blown up appearance of the young] any of various northern alcidine shorebirds (esp. genus Fratercula) black above and white below, with a short neck,… …   English World dictionary

  • Puffin — For other uses, see Puffin (disambiguation). Puffin Atlantic Puffins (F. arctica) Conservation status …   Wikipedia

  • Puffin — Nom vernaculaire ou nom normalisé ambigu : Le terme «  Puffins  » s applique en français à plusieurs taxons distincts. Puffins …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Puffin — Papageitaucher Papageitaucher (Fratercula arctica) Systematik Klasse: Vögel (Aves) Ordnun …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • puffin — UK [ˈpʌfɪn] / US noun [countable] Word forms puffin : singular puffin plural puffins a large black and white bird with a big brightly coloured beak. It lives near the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans …   English dictionary

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