Atlantic Puffins

I love puffins!  There are three species; this is the Atlantic Puffin, Fratercula arctica.  These birds live mostly at sea but come to land to breed.  In the breeding season they get these brightly coloured bills, but they shed the bill plates outside of the season.  They nest on small islands without mammalian predators, or on tall cliffs in areas where predators occur.  They dig burrows or take over those of other critters like rabbits.  They hunt by 'flying' underwater using their short wings, and grabbing fish.  They can stuff them in their bills like this because they have grooved tongues with which they hold the fish they have in their mouths while opening it to catch a new fish.  Puffins stand about 20 cm/8" tall.  They occur in the northern Atlantic ocean region.  Another tiny watercolour painting.