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What looks like a black and white football flying through the sky, can dive 80 feet deep into the sea and flies underwater? Well it’s too small to be Superman and anyway it doesn’t wear a red cape. Would you guess that a cute little bird called a Puffin could do all that?

Puffins are only about a foot tall and don’t weigh much more than a can of soda, but they pack a powerhouse full of energy and survival skills into those little bodies.

Puffins can fly up to a highway speed of 55 mph! Their wings can flap so fast (400 beats a minute) that they’re just a blur whizzing by! When they dive for fish they can be underwater for up to a full minute and as deep as 200 feet!

When they come up out of the water they’re usually carrying a catch of 10 or more fish in their large orange beaks! The Puffin has little spikes on the roof of its mouth. With its raspy tongue it can hold each fish against the spikes while it opens its beak to catch more fish. The all time puffin record (observed by a human) is a haul of 62 fish in one dive!

Puffins sail around the open sea from August to early spring braving the winter weather comfortably with their waterproofed feathers. They can even drink salt water to wash down their fish dinners. Their black and white coloring is good camouflage, protecting them from their natural enemies, hawks and Orcas. When puffins are underwater, hawks have a difficult time seeing them because their black backs blend in with the sea. Orcas swimming below the puffins have a hard time seeing them because their white stomachs blend in with the light coming from the surface.

Sometime in April the Puffins start feeling a bit more sociable and head for land. They gather together in large colonies. It is also about this time of year that their gray bills and feet turn a colorful, bright orange.

The colonies get pretty crowded so the Puffins have developed some clear body language to communicate with each other and avoid any misunderstandings or territory problems. If a Puffin walks quickly with its head lowered it means, “Hey, I’m just passing through and don’t mean any trouble.” If a puffin is standing very stiffly with its beak next to its body and moving its foot in slow, really exaggerated movements, it means, “I’m on guard duty here, so watch where you’re going ’cause this is my burrow.” If a puffin lands with one foot in front of the other foot, wings outspread and head angled down, he’s saying “I claim this spot as mine while I catch a few rays.”

Puffins usually find a mate at sea before they come ashore. Once they are on land, they rub their beaks together letting everyone know that they’re serious about each other. The couple usually mates for life. Puffins dig burrows about 2 to 3 feet long with their bills and feet, shoveling dirt out behind them like a dog. They often pick spots between rocks on steep sea cliffs to avoid predators. Puffins only lay one egg a year and the parents take turns incubating the egg and rearing the chick. The puffling hatches in about six weeks and grows to full size in another 6 weeks.

Then, in the dark of night, using moonlight, the puffling navigates its way to the sea. A young puffin spends 3 to 4 years at sea before returning to its birthplace. How the maturing puffin finds its way back after so long is still a mystery to scientists. As far we know, our little superhero Puffins live 20 years or more.