Atlantic puffin

How it lives

Puffins nest in burrows in grassy ground above the sea. A pair lays one egg a year. Incubation takes about 36 to 43 days and the chick fledges after about 34 to 44 days. Birds usually start to breed at about 5 years. BTO gives a typical life expectancy of about 18 years, and the oldest recorded bird reached 42 years.

Where it goes

Puffins spend the winter at sea, mostly in the eastern Atlantic as far south as north-west Africa, with a few reaching the Mediterranean. They come ashore to breed. In Iceland they arrive in late April or early May and leave by mid to late August. In the Faroe Islands they are present from April to September.

We only draw a journey on the map when scientists have tracked it or clearly documented it. For this animal we have not found one yet.

Populations

A 2018 estimate gives 12 to 14 million adults worldwide, and the trend is down. Iceland holds about 60% of the world's puffins. Icelandic researchers report a fall of about 70% since 1975, and Iceland lists the puffin as Critically Endangered nationally. The Faroe Islands have about 500,000 breeding pairs, down about 70% in 50 years; Mykines alone held about 125,000 pairs in 1989. In the UK, 580,000 pairs were counted in 1998 to 2002, the RSPB reports about 23% lost in 20 years, and the Seabirds Count census (2015 to 2021) found declines at most sites. On the Farne Islands the 2025 count was 38,500 pairs against 50,103 in 2024, although counting puffins is hard.