The Tufted Puffin (Fratercula cirrhata) is a medium-sized seabird in the Alcid family that is known for its distinctive bright orange bill and white “mask” of feathers. Puffins are pelagic seabirds that spend most of their lives at sea, coming ashore only to breed. They are found along the coasts of the North Pacific Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean.
Tufted Puffins were once common along the west coast of North America, with large breeding colonies found from California to Alaska. However, in recent decades, populations have declined substantially in many areas. This has led to concern over the current status of the species and whether Tufted Puffins can now be considered rare.
Tufted Puffin range and population
The breeding range of the Tufted Puffin extends along the Pacific coast from California to the Aleutian Islands and the Pribilof Islands in Alaska, across the North Pacific to the Sea of Okhotsk and northern Japan, and in the Atlantic from Maine to Newfoundland.[1]
Global population estimates for Tufted Puffins are lacking, but regional surveys provide some sense of current numbers:
Location | Population Estimate |
---|---|
California | Less than 10,000 pairs |
Oregon | 104,000 individuals |
Washington | More than 308,000 individuals |
British Columbia | More than 1 million individuals |
Alaska | More than 2 million individuals |
These regional totals suggest a global population likely numbering at least 3-4 million Tufted Puffins. However, the availability of breeding habitat, food supplies, and other factors impose limits on potential population size.
Population trends
Although still numerous in parts of its range, such as Alaska, the Tufted Puffin has declined substantially in many areas over the past several decades.
Along the west coast of the lower 48 United States, breeding numbers have declined by 60-90% since the 1980s.[2] Surveys of breeding sites in California, Oregon, and Washington indicate precipitous drops at many major colonies:
Location | Estimated decline |
---|---|
Farallon Islands, California | -90% |
Yaquina Head, Oregon | -74% |
Destruction Island, Washington | -82% |
Similar declines have occurred in British Columbia, with breeding numbers reduced by 40-60% over the past 30 years.[3]
These steep declines have led the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to classify the Tufted Puffin as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.[4]
Causes of Tufted Puffin declines
What factors account for the substantial decreases in Tufted Puffin numbers in recent decades? Research points to several interlinked causes:
Decrease in prey fish populations
Tufted Puffins feed predominantly on small forage fish such as herring, sand lance, and capelin. Many of these prey fish stocks have declined around breeding colonies, possibly due to overfishing, ocean warming, or other factors.[5] Less prey makes it harder for puffins to successfully reproduce.
Effects of climate change
Warming ocean temperatures have affected food availability and also may have increased instances of severe storms during the breeding season. Nesting burrows can flood and chicks can be washed out to sea.[6]
Predation
Some colonies have seen increased predation from bald eagles, which favors puffin chicks as prey.[7]
Disturbance and habitat loss
Human activities near colonies can disrupt nesting birds. Habitat degradation from pollution, development, or logging can also render areas unsuitable for puffins.
Conclusion
Tufted Puffin populations have declined substantially along the California, Oregon, and Washington coast over the past few decades. However, the species remains locally abundant in parts of its range such as Alaska.
The precipitous declines in the lower 48 states and evidence for increased mortality and breeding failure in several areas warrant the IUCN designation of Tufted Puffin as a Vulnerable species. Ongoing conservation efforts to reduce disturbances, monitor populations, safeguard prey fish stocks, and mitigate climate change impacts will be needed to stabilize numbers.
With focused conservation action, Tufted Puffins may be able to recover from recent population lows. But the major declines across substantial portions of their range indicate the species can now legitimately be considered rare in areas where it was once common.
References
1. Piatt, J.F. and A.M.A. Parrish. 2020. Tufted Puffin (Fratercula cirrhata), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman and B. K. Keeney, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.tufpuf.01
2. Nadav Nur, Donald Lyons, Ken Morgan, Joseph Bower, Ryan Carle, Lorenz Sollmann, A. Marm Kilpatrick. Where have all the Tufted Puffins gone? The decline of a key forage fish affects a culturally important seabird. Condor. 2019; 1 DOI: 10.1093/condor/duz034
3. Hipfner, JM. 2008. Matches and mismatches: ocean climate, prey phenology and breeding success in a zooplanktivorous seabird. Marine Ecology Progress Series Vol. 368: 295–304.
4. BirdLife International. 2018. Fratercula cirrhata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T22694857A132609418. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22694857A132609418.en
5. Piatt, J. F., Harding, A. M., Shultz, M., Speckman, S. G., Iii, T. F., Drew, G. S., … & Renner, H. (2020). Extreme mortality and reproductive failure of common murres resulting from the northeast Pacific marine heatwave of 2014-2016.
6. Birkhead, T.R. (1993) Great Auk Islands: A field biologist in the Arctic. Poyser, London.
7. Hipfner, J. M., Blight, L. K., Lowe, R. W., Wilhelm, S. I., Robertson, G. J., Barrett, R. T., … & Good, T. P. (2012). Unintended consequences: how the recovery of sea eagle Haliaeetus spp. populations in the northern hemisphere is affecting seabirds. Marine Ornithology, 40, 39-52.