The Atlantic puffin or common puffin, Fratercula arctica, is the official bird of Newfoundland and Labrador. This small auk is the only puffin native to the Atlantic Ocean. Two related species are found in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. Puffins spend the autumn and winter on the open arctic ocean and return to coastal areas to breed in late spring. They nest in clifftop colonies, digging burrows where they lay their single eggs. Most colonies are on islands where there are no terrestrial predators. There are three subspecies. Billing is a puffin courtship and bonding behavior and continues throughout the breeding season (see video clip, below).
