The puffin is recognisable and much-loved for its bill which is bright and colourful during breeding season, making it stand out from other sea birds. The outer of the beak is shed after mating season leaving the puffin with a less glamorous brown beak. The puffin lives much of its life out on the ocean but returns to the coast of Ireland in the summer for breeding season, where it makes little burrows to lay its eggs and hatch its pufflings. These pufflings are rarely seen as they stay hidden in their burrows and fledge at night. After fledging, the chicks spend the first few years of their lives at sea, returning to breed about five years later.  

Puffins start breeding at about five years old and have been known to live up to 30 years old. They are a hardy bird, surviving life out on the high seas with a wingspan of roughly 47cm-63cm and reaching about 20cm in height. In Ireland, most Puffins nest in colonies at remote locations on the West coast, although there are some colonies on the East coast also. 

Puffins eat crustaceans and small fish, especially sand eels but their species is under pressure due to a reduction of fish stocks due to overfishing and pollution.