Unexpected fall in puffin numbers

[DogPoundPup]

England's biggest colony of puffins has seen the birds' numbers fall by a third in just five years, a survey shows.

One theory is that many of the birds are dying from starvation during the eight months they spend at sea.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7526313.stm

[csziggy]

1. Could be linked to this story about puffin chicks starving

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article548753.ece

The Times
July 28, 2005
Island colony's puffin chicks starve to death
A Scotland Correspondent writes
THE future of a puffin colony could be at risk after its worst ever breeding season.

A spokesman for the National Trust for Scotland, which looks after the islands of St Kilda in the Outer Hebrides, said substantial numbers of chicks had starved to death this year.

A survey by a ranger on the World Heritage Site, the most important seabird breeding station in north-west Europe, suggests there is a lack of the birds’ staple diet of sandeels.

This means mother birds are having to feed chicks on pipefish, which are difficult to eat because of their size and have little nutritional value.

In the past, fledging weights of puffins have been generally about 250g, whereas the recent average weight was 157g. It is thought only 26 per cent of hatched chicks are surviving this season, compared with a normal rate of 70 per cent.

Sarah Money, the St Kilda ranger, said: “Puffins are usually one of the more robust of the seabirds, finding alternative sources of food when other birds struggle, so this is a really worrying sign that something is going badly wrong with the health of our seas.”

[Judi Lynn]

2. Hope this can be reversed. So sad. Here's a link to a "Puffin Cam:"

http://www.projectpuffin.org/puffin-cam.html

There are some little guys there right now. They are wonderful birds.