

Time flies like a puffin!
Published: 15/06/2020
Reading time: 3 minutes
How a puffin looks like
If you don’t know yet what a puffin is, this is a wonderful opportunity to meet these charming arctic creatures. Puffins are small birds, wearing a black and white plumage, and a colorful large peak from mid-April until mid-September. If you come to Nuuk during the summer, you will find an island inhabited by puffins, also known as sea parrots or “lunde”.



I have joined the Puffin Safari tour and we sailed during almost one hour into the fiord towards this hidden island, while our Captain and Sub Captain were talking about the fiord, the abandoned settlements, hunting season, and hiking trips they usually have during the weekends.
We spent a little bit more than an hour admiring these spellbinding birds, delighted when they were flapping their small wings rapidly, flying all together towards the sea and back to the island, joining the colony once again. Such a marvelous spectacle they constantly showed!



Service onboard!
After having a good time admiring these creatures, the staff offered cookies, coffee and tea onboard, and they also lent us some binoculars to keep an eye on how puffins where behaving on the island, taking off, landing, and floating on the sea.
They are excellent divers and swimmers, and we could also notice when they were flying low over the sea, bringing fish on their beaks, since they feed primarily by diving in the water. They eat herring, sand eels, among many other small fish and zooplankton.


These seabirds are like auks and very often they breed together with razorbills, guillemots and other migratory birds in the open ocean, nesting in cliffs or rocky islands where they can easily make their nests collecting grass and feathers, in burrows not deeper than a meter underground. Their nests are always in places where predators (gulls or foxes) cannot easily reach.
The puffins wear their colorful and triangle beak looking more attractive during the breeding season, and shed the colorful part of the bill at the end of the summer, turning all in grey just before the winter starts.


Scientists say puffins flap their wings up to 400 times per minute and that is the reason it is not so easy to take good pictures while they are flying; nevertheless it will always be worthy to bring your camera and save the memory of this fantastic experience.
In the arctic, time flies like a puffin, come soon!
Here is a very short video of what we experienced:
Read more travel blogs from Gabriela Zendejas Maldonado
-
Accommodation and tours included!
4 Days of Ice Sheet Camping, Arctic Kayaking, and Glacier BBQs | Kangerlussuaq
Tour startsKangerlussuaqDuration4 daysFrom 9500 DKKSee more -
1 to 6 passengers included
Private Glacier and Settlement Tour | Uummannaq | North Greenland
Tour startsUummannaqDuration4 hoursFrom 7700 DKKSee more -
5.00(12)Ideal For Cruise Guests
Private guided tour by car in the capital of Greenland | Nuuk
Tour startsNuukDuration1.5 hoursFrom 2250 DKKSee more -
5.00(2)Children friendly tour!
Family friendly Dogsledding Express tour | Ilulissat
Tour startsIlulissatDuration1.5 hoursFrom 1495 DKKSee more -
5.00(1)Pay by the Hour
Pay by the Hour Private Charter | Ilulissat | Disko Bay
Tour startsIlulissatDuration2 hoursFrom 4000 DKKSee more -
Luxury Overnight in Iliminaq settlement | West Greenland
Tour startsIlulissatDuration2 daysFrom 3950 DKKSee more -
Arctic Desert Experience | Uummannaq | North Greenland
Tour startsUummannaqDuration2.5 hoursFrom 2200 DKKSee more -
Glacier Camping | Midnight Sun Expedition | East Greenland
Tour startsKulusukDuration2 daysFrom 3700 DKKSee more -
Boat tour Uummannaq 360°| North Greenland
Tour startsUummannaqDuration2 hoursFrom 1600 DKKSee more -
Paradise Valley & Ice Cap Tour | Kangerlussuaq
Tour startsKangerlussuaqDuration70 minutesFrom 3095 DKKSee more -
4.80(10)
Dogsled tour | Ilulissat | Disko bay
Tour startsIlulissatDuration2 hoursFrom 1695 DKKSee more -
2026 dates!
East Greenland Adventure | 6 Days
Tour startsKulusukDuration6 daysFrom 15700 DKKSee more -
West Coast and Disko Bay Adventure | 8 Days
Tour startsFrom CopenhagenDuration8 daysFrom 29800 DKKSee more -
Sailing Adventure
Set Sail on a Summer Odyssey Through the Arctic Wonders | 8 Days | West Greenland
Tour startsIlulissatDuration8 daysFrom 63500 DKKSee more -
Flights included!
Kayak & Ice Hike | 8 Days | South Greenland
Tour startsFrom Copenhagen From IcelandDuration8 daysFrom 22300 DKKSee more -
Boat tour to Qarajaq Glacier | Uummannaq | North Greenland
Tour startsUummannaqDuration8 hoursFrom 4300 DKKSee more -
Including flights to Greenland!
Highlights of Iceland & Ilulissat, West Greenland | 8 Days
Tour startsFrom IcelandDuration8 daysFrom 45400 DKKSee more