Editing Tufted puffin (section)

== Behavior ==
[[File:TuftedPuffinBurrow.jpg|thumb|Adult outside nesting burrow on the [[Kuril Islands]]]]

=== Breeding ===
Breeding takes place on isolated islands: over 25,000 pairs have been recorded in a single colony off the coast of [[British Columbia]]. The nest is usually a simple burrow dug with the bill and feet, but sometimes a crevice between rocks is used instead. It is well-lined with vegetation and feathers. Courtship occurs through skypointing, strutting, and billing. A single [[Bird egg|egg]] is laid, usually in June, and incubated by both parents for about 45 days. The eggs are pure white or pale buff and are without gloss. They very often have barely perceptible shell markings of dull purplish color.<ref>{{Cite web |title=THE BIRD BOOK |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/30000/pg30000-images.html#Page_21}}</ref> [[Fledgling (birds)|Fledglings]] leave the nest at between 40 and 55 days.

Tufted puffins may be purely aquatic locomotive animals until they are three, living entirely as marine animals returning to shore only to breed on the nesting cliffs where they hatched. They tend to be well offshore when hatching.{{cn|date=February 2023}}

[[File:Tufted Puffin.jpg|thumb|Adult swimming at the [[Henry Doorly Zoo]]]]

=== Diet ===
[[File:Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary tufted puffin.png|thumb|left|A tufted puffin swims in the [[Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary]] off [[California]].]]
Tufted puffins feed on a variety of [[fish]] and [[marine invertebrates]], which they catch by diving from the surface. However, their diet varies greatly with age and location. Adult puffins largely depend on invertebrates, especially [[squid]] and [[krill]]. Nestlings at coastal colonies are fed primarily fish such as [[rockfish]] and [[sandlance]], while nestlings at colonies closer to [[pelagic]] habitats are more dependent on invertebrates. [[Demersal fish]] are consumed in some quantity by most nestlings, suggesting that puffins feed to some extent on the ocean bottom.<ref name="Piatt">Piatt, J. F. and A. S. Kitaysky (2002). Tufted Puffin (Fratercula cirrhata), version 2.0. In The Birds of North America (A. F. Poole and F. B. Gill, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bna.708</ref>

Feeding areas can be located far offshore from the nesting areas. Puffins can store large quantities of small fish in their bills and carry them to their chicks.

=== Predators and threats ===
Tufted puffins are preyed upon by various avian raptors such as [[snowy owl]]s, [[bald eagle]]s and [[peregrine falcon]]s, and mammals like the [[Arctic fox]]. Foxes seem to prefer the puffin over other birds, making the bird a main target. Choosing inaccessible cliffs and entirely mammal-free islands protects them from terrestrial predators while laying eggs in burrows is effective in protecting them from egg-scavengers like [[gull]]s and [[raven]]s.<ref name=Gaston/>

A mass die-off of puffins at [[Saint Paul Island (Alaska)|St. Paul Island, Alaska]] between October 2016 and January 2017 has been attributed to ecosystem changes resulting from [[climate change]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29052019/puffin-deaths-arctic-climate-change-alaska-wildlife-biodiversity|title=Mass Die-Off of Puffins Raises More Fears About Arctic's Warming Climate|last=Shankman|first=Sabrina|date=2019-05-29|website=InsideClimate News|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-03}}</ref>