The Puffins only lay one egg per year, parents feed their chick in the burrow for 42 days and then the “dress up” for their mate over winter before meeting up again at the burrow next spring.
The Atlantic Puffin is listed on the Iceland Red List of Birds, the European Red List, and globally on the IUCN Red List. The species is in decline both in Iceland and across the world.
Puffins are only present on land during the breeding season from April until August every year. For the majority of the year, from fall and during the winter, they live out at sea in food rich areas of the Atlantic Ocean.
The hunting of the Atlantic Puffin is legal in Iceland, every year the hunting season is from 1. July until 15. August. From a declining population the hunt can not be sustainable.
Climate change is one of the key factors in the decline of the Atlantic Puffin, with rising sea temperatures meaning that parents must fly greater distances in order to get food for their young.
Fuglavernd BirdLife Iceland campaigns and advocates for the conservation of the Atlantic Puffin by several means. A hunting ban or at least a sales ban on puffin products is our goal.