Puffins

[robyoung]

The picture (taken by a friend at Farne Islands) shows a puffin with some marine life in it's bill. Referring to Patrick O'Brien's book The Letter of Marque p156. How do they do it? Also what sea creatures are in the photo.

[ETJ]

Hi Rob - Puffins grip their prey between the tongue and the upper mandible, so the beak can still be opened. This is a fuller description obtained from the Internet :

Fish are held in the beak with a powerful grip. Backward-pointing serrations on the beak, a muscular grooved tongue, and upper and lower mandibles that come together in a parallel fashion create an equal pressure along the length of the bill, gripping fish in place. By clamping fish to the roof of their beak with their tongue, puffins are able to open their bill and continue feeding (Boag and Alexander 1986). There is no loss in feeding efficiency when the bill sheath is molted (Freethy 1987).

There's an excellent picture of the serrations at this site : http://www.birds-of-denmark.dk/lunde.htm

I'm no expert on fish, but small fish held by Puffins are usually sandeels. As for the larger item - is it a squid? Perhaps someone more knowledgeable might help.

Eric