![]() Some 800 tufted puffin breeding colonies can now be found in North America.Ĭustomers may view the Tufted Puffins stamps, as well as many of this year’s other stamps on Facebook at /USPSStamps, on Twitter or on the website Beyond the Perf at /2013-preview. With breeding season over, the parents also leave the colony for the open ocean. They may not return to land for several years. After six or seven weeks, the young birds announce their independence by flying or walking into the sea. ![]() Tufted puffins travel up to 60 miles in search of food for their young, carrying a line of up to 20 small fish tucked crosswise in their bills at a time. The chick hatches after about six weeks, transforming the parents into a fish delivery service. The female then lays one egg, which both parents incubate. Each pair works together to dig a burrow that can reach more than 5 feet long. Once the birds have caught their prey, they consume it underwater as well.ĭuring breeding season, male and female tufted puffins congregate in a breeding colony, usually located on an offshore island or cliff edge. In addition to squid and crustaceans, most tufted puffins dine on bottom fish, indicating that they spend some time searching the seafloor for food. ![]() They dive to a maximum depth of 200 feet, and then use their wings to propel themselves through the water, looking as if they are flying through the sea. Tufted puffins catch their meals underwater. In the U.S., tufted puffins can be also found in Oregon and Washington. The birds have adapted to an unusually broad range of ocean habitats, raising their young anywhere from southern California to arctic Alaska. Found on the open ocean, islands and coastal areas of the North Pacific, the tufted puffin’s true home is the sea, as it hunts underwater and spends most of its life far from land. The tufted puffin is the largest of the three puffin species, standing roughly 15 inches tall. Puffins, also known as sea parrots because of their large bills, are diving birds in the auk family. Both birds sport the striking tufts of long, yellow feathers that give the tufted puffin its name, plumage that only appears during breeding season. The stamp artwork features a painting of two tufted puffins by artist Robert Giusti of Bridgewater, CT, under the art direction of Derry Noyes of Washington, DC. The stamps can be purchased at /stamps or by phone at 800-STAMP24 (80) and at Post Offices nationwide in preparation for the Jan. The 86-cent Tufted Puffin stamp is good for mailing domestic First-Class letters weighing up to 3 ounces. coast from California to Alaska, can now be seen nationwide when it takes flight on a new stamp today. ![]() Toporok is the namesake of one of its main breeding sites, Kamen Toporkov ("Tufted Puffin Rock") or Ostrov Toporkov ("Tufted Puffin Island"), an islet offshore Bering Island.A high-resolution image of the stamp is available for media use only by emailing AK - The Tufted Puffin, an unmistakable foot-and-a-half tall bird that hunts to 200 feet underwater and is found on the U.S. The Tufted puffin is a familiar bird on the coasts of the Russian Pacific coast, where it is known as Toporok (Топорок) – meaning "small axe," a hint to the shape of the bill.Tufted puffins can breed in huge colonies and one such colony was recorded off the coast of British Columbia where congregated over 25,000 pairs.Tufted puffins usually dive for 30 seconds but are able to stay underwater for up to a minute.Using their wings, they "fly" underwater through schools of fish, capturing up to 10 or even more in their bills at a time. The wings of Tufted puffins are relatively short, adapted for diving, underwater swimming, and capturing prey rather than gliding, of which they are incapable.Tufted puffins are known as the “parrots of the sea” due to their beautiful bright coloring during the summer breeding season.These three puffins belong to the genus Fratercula the name comes from the Medieval Latin and refers to the black and white plumage which resembles monastic robes and means “little brother”. The Tufted puffin differs from Atlantic puffin and Horned puffin by its mostly black body.The Tufted puffin was first described in 1769 by German zoologist Peter Simon Pallas. ![]()
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