Puffins

I love to bird watch.  Doesn't really matter what kind of bird.  I just like watching them.  They have a soothing effect on me while I watch.  But no bird that I have ever seen has given me as much enjoyment as the group of puffins I saw at Aniakchak.

Puffins are very cool looking birds just in themselves.  They have a black and white body and a black and white head.  They have a bright orange beak and the species I saw, the tufted puffin, has a yellow tuft of feathers falling loosely of its hed.  They do not make much noice.  I was not close enough to hear them but supposedly they mak a low rumbling sort of noice.  What made watching them so fun was their flying.

While watching the seals and the sea otters  in the bay you would notice the gulls going into a fish frenzy.  They would gather in a group and dive for fish swimming in a specific area.  Once the gulls started they were joined by other seabirds, including puffins.  That is when the fun started.  Puffins were obviously not know for the aeronautics.  The would fly over the area then just sort of drop out of the air.  It was like they were never taught to land.  Takeoffs weren't very pretty either.  but you couldn't help but laugh when they would fly in the plop into the water.  Once in the water they became graceful divers and all most always came up with a fish.  But the landinds......  They were comical.  Their landings almost made you believe that their clown like appearance was created after someone saw them land.