Smallest puffin species

The smallest species of puffin is the Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica). Adults can reach a length of 29 centimetres (11.4 inches) and weigh 0.5 kilograms (1 pound 1 ounce). The Atlantic puffin is native to the UK, Iceland, Norway and north-east Canada, as well as a visitor to certain more southerly locations.

The largest super-colony of puffins is found in Iceland's Vestmannaeyjar (aka Westman Islands). According to recent estimates, the archipelago hosts some 830,000 breeding pairs of Atlantic puffins – approximately 20% of the world population – during the April–August nesting season.

At the other end of the scale, the largest puffin is the tufted puffin, aka crested puffin (Fratercula cirrhata). Adults can reach a length of 40 cm (1 ft 3 in) and weigh as much as 1 kg (2 lb 3 oz). The species earns its name owing to a bright yellow tuft of feathers it sprouts during the breeding season (both males and females).

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.