No body says that all extinction is because of the humans. At least we can say that about the dinosaurs!!! There would have been natural reasons for the extinction of many species before the human species began evolving. Some probably were replaced by a better species which could cope with the then existing environ better. But since the human evolution, like for many things good, the humans are responsible for many things bad as well, extinction of some species being one of them. Human endeavor to get the most readily food did not blind the human race but for sure made it myopic. Any species of animal or bird just has to be beautiful and useful to face the threat of extinction. 125 species of birds,60 species of mammals, 8 species of fish and equal number of species of insects have become extinct since 1600.

Here we have another bird to append the list.

If asked which bird is so particular about sanitation that it builds a toilet area at the first bend of its nest, not many would raise their hands to say “Puffins”!!!!

Let me introduce Puffins to you as Stephen Kress introduced Puffins to the puffins-starved islands of Maine.

Maine puffins were over hunted by early settlers for food and this is what made the island wait for almost over a century before it could witness the rearing of the fist puffin chick in the year 1981.People thought that it was a cross breed between a bird and a fish because of its flight in the air and superb ability to swim under water. This gave them an excuse to eat puffins during the lent when meat is not allowed. We are a smart breed!!

This resplendent effort put in by Stephen Kress was based on the mere memory of the puffins. A puffin chick heads off to the ocean without its parents and remains in the water until it is 2-3 years old. Then it comes back to the place it hatched and it rears its own chicks beside its old burrow. This is the information Kress used and started transplanting 2-weeks old chicks from Newfoundland to the Eastern Egg Rock island of Maine so that they think that this was their home and they return here to breed. Nothing less than a brilliant idea and something that worked as well. Between the year 1973 to 1981, 954 eggs were transplanted in artificial burrows and now we have almost 700 pairs on all the four Maine islands, including 90 on the Eastern Egg Rock.

Puffins, which means chubby cheeks, is a small, round-bodied auk with a large head, a spectacular striped bill, which it uses to catch food and in display. In summer, the puffin’s bill is colorful, the upper parts of the body and collar are black and the underparts white. In winter, the face is grayish and the bill smaller and duller.They live on fish which only live in cold waters. They fly across the sea to get the fish and they can get from as many as 10 to 62 fish at a time in their bills.

The clowns of the sea, as they are lovingly called by the locals, have managed to build a huge band of enemies over time, Black backed gull being the worst of them. They can catch the puffins in mid air. Herring gulls and terns are the ones which feed on puffins and the food that they bring home from the sea. Not to forget the chemicals that we so callously allow in the oceans along with the oil spills. People also depleted the fish stock of the ocean and hence the puffins chicks starved which also resulted to the drastic decrease in the number.

Now its important that we understand why puffins at all ? Because they are excellent bioindicators of the environment. They can let us know about the level of fish in a particular region of the ocean. The study of their eggs, feathers and internal organs can tell us about the behavior and the presence of the heavy metals in the environment. And even if they are of no use, why can’t we just let them live and help mother nature not feel anguish about one less breed of birds. Puffins appeared on coins and stamps in the island of Lundy which was named after them. We should allow them to appear on the horizons of the sky as well. Wat say??