Bird of the Week – Horned Puffin
Last week’s bird, the Tufted Puffin, has a close cousin that’s almost as colorful, Alaska’s other puffin, the Horned Puffin.
Horned Puffins, St. Paul Island, Pribilof Islands
The “horns” aren’t really horns; they are fleshy knobs that appear in breeding season. For a bird that is relatively common, they are poorly studied. but are believed to be the most pelagic of Alcids, spending most of their lives far out in the ocean, coming ashore only to breed, and then only after several years.
Camera geek stuff: f18, 1/500 ISO1000
For more bird photos, please visit Frozen Feather Images.
Ms Mag o’ my heart in the desert. Have you noticed any tuffted horned frogs running around? Color me mizery-skitter drizzlly curious in soggy iowa. 🙂 🙂
I think I get it,finally. Ma Nature couldn’t sell all of one model of Puffins the year they were manufactured,so,to reduce inventory before tax time she added horns and re-licensed the tufties as hornies for the next model year. I wonder if they still stamp the model year on the taillight lens?
Is there some evolutionary advantage at stake giving one species of Puffins horns over another species? Is Mother Nature just natural funny that way?
Actually, this species is pretty badly misnamed.
The first specimen spotted by Audubon happened to be practicing for a trombone recital at the time, so the Audubon said “hey! He’s puffin a horn!” and the joke was repeated so often that the label stuck — et viola, the Horned Puffin.
A survey of Horned Puffins shows that very few of them are actually trombone players; actually, they tend to prefer the piano and even the harpsichord. And a small minority aren’t musical at all, but just sorta hum and fake it.
Glad I could clarify that for you.
🙂 You have my undying gratitude for that clarification. I wuz rilly worried about it.
Best photo I’ve ever seen of this species! Terrific, WC. Thanks.