Facts about Puffin Burrow Nesting Habits

1. 07

   Grass, feathers, and plant material are often used to line the interior of a puffin burrow, providing insulation for the single egg and growing chick.

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2. 06

   Burrow nesting gives puffin eggs and chicks protection from aerial predators such as gulls and skuas that patrol coastal breeding colonies.

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3. 05

   Young pufflings leave the burrow at night, flying directly to the sea without any parental guidance once they fledge.

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4. 04

   The single egg laid in a puffin burrow is incubated using a bare brood patch on the parent's abdomen, allowing direct skin-to-egg heat transfer.

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5. 03

   Puffins often return to the same burrow site year after year, demonstrating strong nest-site fidelity across breeding seasons.

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6. 02

   Both male and female puffins take turns incubating their single egg inside the burrow, sharing parental duties throughout the roughly 40-day incubation period.

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7. 01

   Atlantic puffins excavate burrows up to 90 centimeters deep in coastal cliff soil, where each breeding pair raises a single chick called a puffling.

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