Largest puffin species

The largest puffin is the tufted puffin, aka crested puffin (Fratercula cirrhata). Adults can reach a length of 40 centimetres (1 foot 3 inches) and weigh approximately 1 kilogram (2 pounds 3 ounces). The species earns its name owing to a bright yellow tuft of feathers it sprouts (both males and females) during the breeding season. Their range extends to both sides of the North Pacific, with major breeding colonies in Alaska, USA, British Columbia, Canada, the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia, and the Aleutian Islands.

At the other end of the scale, the smallest puffin is the Atlantic puffin (F. arctica), which fully grown weighs about half as much and with a length of 11.4 inches (28.9 cm).

There is only one other species of puffin belonging to the Fratercula genus – the horned puffin (F. corniculata); though some ornithologists also place the rhinoceros auklet (Cerorhinca monocerata) into the same group, with proposals having been put forward to rename it the rhinoceros puffin.

All species of puffin are best known for their black and white-coloured feathers that contrast to their brightly coloured beaks with stripes of red, orange and yellow, which led to their nickname "clowns of the sea".