Richard Collins: Young puffins dangerously attracted to artificial light
A stranded puffling on Newfoundland coast. Puffling strandings are a growing concern on either side of the Atlantic as they are likely to be run over by cars or become prey to predators. Image by Taylor Brown.
Heimaey is a small island off the south coast of Iceland. Its black basalt cliffs rise directly from the sea. During a visit there some years ago, a shroud of ash from its smouldering volcano was slowly smothering islanders’ homes.
This spooky place has two claims to fame. In November 1963, an eruption, 130 metres under the sea, began creating a new island nearby. It’s called ‘Surtsey' — the island of the Norse fire-god, Surtr.
Heimaey’s other extraordinary feature is its puffin colony — one of the world’s largest. But the grassy slopes there were being covered by ash. Local people claimed that frantic puffins had died while digging to reach their nesting burrows.
A puffin’s childhood is idyllic. The single egg is laid underground, safe from storms and prowling gulls. Incubation, by both parents, takes about 40 days. There will be no siblings to snatch the bit from the hatchling’s mouth.
Over the next eight weeks, the devoted parents air-lift sprats sand-eels, and other small fish, to their demanding ‘puffling’. A hungry chick may shuffle back and forth to the burrow entrance, like Oliver Twist ‘asking for more’.
But the pampered youngster is in for a rude awakening. When the chick reaches three-quarters of adult size, its parents begin cutting back on the food supply. Its fat reserves dwindling, the hungry nestling is, literally 'between the devil and the deep blue sea’.
Pity the poor creature, forced from the security of its comfy childhood burrow, facing the vast heaving ocean. At this the most dangerous moment of its young life, the fledgling must make a great leap into the unknown, usually under cloak of darkness. In the puffin equivalent of our human birth trauma, it runs and flutters drunkenly down to the rolling waves.
Surviving fledglings normally swim straight out to sea. But on Heimaey, many don’t. Instead, they head for the island’s village where, at the end of a wobbly flight, they crash-land in gardens and onto streets. The island’s children come to the rescue. Forming ‘pysja patrols’ each summer, they gather up the distressed birds and return them to the sea.
But, having endured the ordeals of childhood, and run the gauntlet of voracious gulls and skuas, why do the fledglings throw it all away by heading for the town?
🎉 Second first-author paper from my PhD research is now published open-access for all to read & share!!🎉 Young puffins are drawn to artificial light & spectrum may not matter. They're also less active under LED compared to sodium light or darkness 💡🐧 https://t.co/g9HxCYY5Zj pic.twitter.com/8l6oxHl2zS
— Taylor Brown (@TBrown_birds) November 1, 2024
Taylor Brown and colleague from Trent University wondered if artificial light was to blame. They set up lamps on beaches near puffin breeding colonies in Newfoundland.
Significantly more puffins became stranded when a beach was illuminated than when it was in darkness. Clearly, light pollution was affecting the birds.
But what type of light was least damaging; white sodium, blue, or orange?
All were tested systematically in attempts to find the colour least threatening to the puffins. However, none proved to be effective. The researchers say that: "Overall, our findings demonstrate that the only evidence-based strategy, for the reduction of Atlantic puffin strandings, is the reduction of coastal artificial lighting."
Atlantic puffins are perilously attracted to artificial light, new study shows. #phototaxis #LightPollution https://t.co/HIRWtWalqd
— RASC Light Pollution (@RASC_LPA) January 30, 2025
It will be at least two years before the young puffin pays a return visit to the colony. It will be four to five years old when it begins breeding.
