Puffins Galore! - Part 1
My list of reasons for wanting to visit Fogo Island was quite a long list… at the top of the list - Atlantic Puffins! This is the time of year that massive amounts of puffins make their way to Newfoundland in order to breed. When they are not breeding they spend their lives bobbing out in the ocean feeding on small fish. On Tuesday I went out on a fishing boat about 4.5 miles off the shore of Fogo Island with an incredible Captain and First Mate to go see the puffins!
Puffins make their nests in huge colonies by making a shallow burrow- they only lay one egg. During breeding season their colors are absolutely spectacular. They are about 10-12 inches tall with a wingspan of up to around 24”. They fly up to 55 mph - so I knew I was going to be in for a big challenge photographing them in flight! If Puffins don’t make you smile - I promise you that nothing will! :)
When we started out it was very cloudy with a chance of rain on the way back - I let them know whatever weather we were going to have I was up for it!
Off we went - come along with me!
It took us around 50 minutes getting out to the Little Fogo Islands - which is something like a group of 70-80 islands….
As we were approaching the first island I kept scanning the sea and the sky for any signs of puffins….. when you guessed it - all of a sudden I saw something I will never ever forget…. a swarm of puffins! These next two photos don’t do what it was like justice…. I have others that I have not downloaded yet that I will share in another post….. I had honestly thought we would see hundreds… total… while we were out. No, we saw thousands!!!
I can’s say enough about this Captain and his First Mate…. they knew how excited I was for my time out there - I had brought ALL of my equipment on the boat. I had no idea if I would use a tripod or be firing off my camera while resting it on a railing so I had to be ready for anything. I let the First Mate know that his job was to hold onto me if he thought I was going to go overboard! :).
As soon as we were making our way through a group of the islands the waters became calmer and we were able to get closer to the islands so I could try to photograph on the islands. At first it was quite a challenge for me to get my bearings as to where to focus there were so many - and there were so many flying in my line of vision and everywhere! Also I had to try and get the rhythm of the boat while were were passing by the islands. I let them know I would just keep at it until I was “locked "in” and could find my own rhythm with the birds.
Please enjoy! Can you believe these are real?? :)
As we rounded this island I could not believe it - a Razorbill! I had no idea that it was a possibility to see one of these incredible seabirds! They also only come to land to breed - otherwise their lives are out at sea…. incredible…
This shot show you the burrows…. waiting to lay that one precious egg…
The First Mate - Cheryl, the are some taking off below us!!! Are you kidding me??? :)
What can I say….. other than…. heaven on earth…
The pair that is on the right are “beaking” - this is part of their courtship behavior.
Puffins make these burrows to protect against their predators… namely gulls….
We came around a bend just in time to see this puffin putting on a show on how to jump!
Further on….
It might be hard to see but the lower puffin has a piece of nesting material in its beak…
Is any of this real???
Further on….. This one was coming in for a landing! Let me tell you they come in full speed - I probably took 2,000 shots before I could capture this series of 3 shots!
I hope that I have left you wanting more! I will have much more to share after I return of the puffins and so much more…. Tomorrow is my last day… and you guessed it…. I’m going out with the Captain and his Mate to puffin dreamland… :)
This will be my last post until I am home. I will sign off with this beautiful Irish saying…
“Go rabid mile faith agat.”
May you have a thousand good things.