Today in 2022, a public radio report on a phenomenon that takes a little explaining: people in Iceland helping baby puffins by throwing them off cliffs!
This has become an annual job for people on the Westman Islands, off Iceland’s southern coast.
The islands are famous for their colony of Atlantic puffins, whose pufflings start to emerge from their underground burrows in the fall.
At this point they’re looking to head to sea; after spending a couple years traveling around the north Atlantic ocean, they come back to where they were born to perpetuate the species.
Or, at least, that’s what’s supposed to happen; in recent years some of the pufflings have had trouble with their navigation.
They find their way to the water at night, with help from the light of the moon.
But some pufflings mistake the lights from nearby towns for the moon and so they end up heading the wrong way, away from the ocean.
Fortunately, they have backup.
The islanders have formed a volunteer Puffling Patrol.
Partly this is to help a species whose numbers are declining, partly it’s to see really cute misdirected birdies up close.
They use flashlights to look under cars and around corners.
If they find a bird, they give it a little cozy spot in a box filled with grass; sometimes scientists will take measurements to see how this year’s newbies are doing.
The next day, they take it to the cliff and… ok, it’s not quite always throwing.
Usually they sort of hold them next to the cliff and the birds know what to do from there.
Some need more of a nudge than others.
But eventually, they do all head off the cliff and get where they need to go.
At least the volunteers aren’t throwing these babies out with the bathwater!
Vermont may not be known for baby puffins, but they’ve got something else to throw.
Starting Sunday in Stowe, it’s the Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin’ Festival.
Participants build trebuchets to launch pumpkins as far as they can.
And, of course, there are prizes for the best chuckin’.
Why it’s perfectly normal to see baby puffins thrown off cliffs in Iceland each year (NPR)
Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin’ Festival
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