The throes of winter are fighting hard to stick around in Newfoundland right now, but slowly and surely it is being beaten back. Part of the arsenal of getting over winter is the expectation and anticipation of what is to come. One of the things many people are looking forward to is the arrival of the Atlantic puffins back at their nesting colonies on some of the rocky outcrops around the coast of the island. Hopefully within the next five weeks or so we’ll start to see the first arrivals of these little birds – who will quickly get to work cleaning and restocking their burrows ready for their single egg to be laid, which they’ll then incubate for around five to six weeks. All being well and having put on sufficient weight, the ‘puffling’ (yes that’s a real name!) will fledge and head out to sea around 45 days after hatching.
