What helps them hold many fish?

Spines on the tongue and roof of the mouth

How do children on Iceland's Westman Islands help pufflings?

They carry lost pufflings back to the sea

Atlantic Puffin Quiz: Burrows, Pufflings and Colorful Beaks

This Atlantic puffin quiz visits the clifftop colonies of the clown of the sea. Play an interactive set of 10 questions on colorful breeding beaks, digging burrows, one egg, pufflings, carrying many fish at once, spiny tongues, fast wingbeats, deep dives, Iceland's huge colonies and children rescuing lost pufflings.

Start Atlantic Puffin Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Beak
When is a puffin's beak most colorful?
Nest
Where do Atlantic puffins nest?
Eggs
How many eggs does a puffin pair usually lay?
Chick
What is a baby puffin called?
Fish
What can puffins carry in their beaks?
Grip
What helps them hold many fish?
Food
Which small fish do puffins often catch?
Wings
How fast do puffins flap their wings?
Iceland
Which country hosts the largest share of Atlantic puffins?
Rescue
How do children on Iceland's Westman Islands help pufflings?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: When is a puffin's beak most colorful?
Answer: In the breeding season
Outer plates are shed later.
Q2: Where do Atlantic puffins nest?
Answer: In burrows on clifftops
They dig with beak and feet.
Q3: How many eggs does a puffin pair usually lay?
Answer: One
Both parents care for it.
Q4: What is a baby puffin called?
Answer: A puffling
It grows in the burrow.
Q5: What can puffins carry in their beaks?
Answer: Several fish at once
They line them up crosswise.
Q6: What helps them hold many fish?
Answer: Spines on the tongue and roof of the mouth
They can keep catching more.
Q7: Which small fish do puffins often catch?
Answer: Sand eels
Supplies can vary year to year.
Q8: How fast do puffins flap their wings?
Answer: Up to about 400 beats a minute
Their wings are short.
Q9: Which country hosts the largest share of Atlantic puffins?
Answer: Iceland
Huge colonies line its coasts.
Q10: How do children on Iceland's Westman Islands help pufflings?
Answer: They carry lost pufflings back to the sea
Town lights confuse the young birds.

Atlantic Puffin Quiz – Burrows, Pufflings and Colorful Beaks

Atlantic puffins spend most of the year at sea, coming ashore to breed in colonies on clifftops. Pairs dig burrows with their beaks and feet, and each lays a single egg.

Their beaks become brightly colored in the breeding season. Spines on the tongue and palate let them carry several fish, often sand eels, at once to feed their chick, called a puffling.

Puffins beat their short wings very fast and dive well underwater. Iceland holds the largest share of the population, and on the Westman Islands children carry lost pufflings back to the sea.

What This Quiz Teaches

Bird fans will enjoy these questions.

Where puffins nest
How they raise chicks
How they carry fish
How they fly and dive
Where most of them live

Did You Know?

Puffins are nicknamed clowns of the sea.
Pairs often return to the same burrow each year.
Climate change is affecting their food supply.
Their winter faces are duller and grayer.
Skomer Island in Wales is a popular puffin site.