Puffins Preening

In May 2025, I spent a week in Tálknafjörður, in the Westfjords of Iceland. It is a 90 minute drive from there to Látrabjarg Cliffs, where there are Atlantic Puffins nesting on the cliffs, along with other seabirds, like Kittiwakes, Guillemots and Razorbills.

I visited Látrabjarg every evening, compelled to go to and spend time with the Puffins and understand more about their habits and life.

It gave me an interesting insight to Puffin behaviour. For four days, it was sunny, but the winds were around 30 to 40 kph (18 to 25 mph), gusting harder. Not a single Puffin did I see on those days. Apparently they love to fly and be out at sea on gusty days (or warm in their burrows?).

After four days of high wind, the wind dropped in the late afternoon, and led into a beautiful evening with a light breeze, and the warm glow of the sun dipping towards the horizon. As it was early June, it doesn’t get dark, but there is an extended golden hour (from around 21:30 to 23:30) as the sun slides downwards.

The Puffins were basking on the cliffs, and most of them were preening. This is normal after bad weather, as they need to maintain their natural waterproofing.

It made for some beautiful images, of the white feathers under their wings, and the mix of white and black where there are normally very clean lines on their bodies.