Podcast Summary

Podcast: But Why: A Podcast for Curious Kids
Episode: Why are puffins' beaks so colorful?
Date: August 22, 2025
Host: Jane Lindholm
Guest: Don Lyons, Director of Conservation Science, National Audubon Society's Seabird Institute (Maine)

Overview

In this engaging episode, host Jane Lindholm takes young listeners on a journey to the Westman Islands in Iceland—the home of the world's largest colony of Atlantic puffins. Jane and her guest, puffin expert Don Lyons, dive into kid-submitted questions covering why puffins’ beaks are so colorful, how they live and nest, their quirky behaviors, remarkable life cycles, and how conservation efforts brought them back from the brink of extinction in Maine. The episode is rich with delightful facts, memorable moments, and expert insights into these "clowns of the sea."

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Introduction to Puffins ([00:50]–[09:25])

• Location for research: Jane introduces listeners to Iceland’s Westman Islands, where Atlantic puffins are currently nesting.
• Expert intro: Don Lyons shares that he studies seabirds in Maine and describes his work as an “avian ecologist.”
  • Quote: "My job is super fun. I get to work with birds all day, year round." – Don Lyons ([05:27])
• Puffin basics: Puffins spend most of their lives at sea, only coming ashore to nest in colonies during the summer. There are four species of puffins, all in the northern hemisphere; the Atlantic puffin is the most famous.

2. Why Are Puffins' Beaks So Colorful? ([10:03]–[12:44])

• Purpose of colorful beaks: The bright colors signal age and readiness to mate; young puffins have dull beaks that get more vibrant as they mature.
  • Quote: “That colorful bill... communicates that an individual puffin is old enough to nest.” – Don Lyons ([10:11])
• Puffins don’t begin nesting until about age 5-7.

3. Puffin Life Cycle and Behavior ([12:44]–[14:08])

• Solitary winters: Puffins are generally solitary at sea, coming together only to nest. Even bonded pairs spend winters apart.
  • Quote: “Most of the time they do that on their own.” – Don Lyons ([13:57])

4. Puffin Survival Strategies ([14:11]–[15:00])

• Lightning storms: Puffins avoid lightning by staying low in the water and may use visual cues to avoid storms.

5. Puffin Nesting and Predator Defence ([15:25]–[20:43])

• Burrow nesting: Puffins dig burrows or use rock crevices to protect their eggs and chicks from predators like gulls, eagles, and ravens.
  • Quote: "They really only put their nests in these underground places because that protects the egg and chick ... from predators." – Don Lyons ([15:55])
• Gulls try to steal fish from adult puffins rather than attack chicks.
• Pufflings (baby puffins) are cautious, staying hidden in burrows and coming out mostly at night.

6. Learning to Fly ([20:43]–[23:55])

• Cliffs as launchpads: High nesting spots give pufflings and adults just enough altitude to gain flight—a necessity due to short wings adapted to both flying and swimming.
  • Quote: "So they nest on high cliffs or kind of hills on islands, so that they have a lot of space between them and the water. So when they take off from their nesting spot... they have a lot of time to get up speed, to flap their wings really hard..." – Don Lyons ([22:16])
• Pufflings leave their burrows alone, and sometimes locals help lost ones find the sea by tossing them off cliffs at night—a quirky but crucial tradition.

7. Puffin Migration and Navigation ([25:54]–[28:45])

• Self-sufficiency: Once fledged, pufflings get no further help from parents.
• Long migrations: Puffins can range hundreds to thousands of kilometers in search of food, but return annually to their birthplace to breed.
• Finding their way: The exact mechanisms are unknown; likely involves a combination of internal compass, visual landmarks, and perhaps scent.

8. Telling Puffins Apart ([28:45]–[30:16])

• Boy and girl puffins look identical to humans; only genetic testing can confirm sex.
  • Quote: "I can have a puffin in my hand, I can have two puffins in my hand... and I cannot tell them apart." – Don Lyons ([28:57])

9. Fun Puffin Facts ([30:16]–[33:49])

• Breath-holding, diving: Puffins can hold their breath for 2-3 minutes and commonly dive 15 meters, occasionally up to 50 meters.

• Colorful feet and triangles: Bright feet and eye markings, like their beaks, signal maturity and readiness to mate.

• No blubber: Puffins have a fat layer—not blubber like whales or seals—for insulation.

• Carrying fish: Puffins can carry multiple fish crossways in their beaks, using specialized ridges and barbs.

  • Quote: "But kind of the record that we've heard about or that I've heard about of how many fish can a puffin carry is 62." – Don Lyons ([33:20])

10. Puffin Conservation Success in Maine ([34:12]–[38:39])

• Population crash and recovery: By the early 1900s, puffins were almost extinct in Maine due to hunting for meat, eggs, and feathers.
• Restoration project: In the 1970s, researchers translocated pufflings from Canada, placed them in burrows, and used decoys and audio playback to encourage nesting—a now widely used conservation technique.
  • Quote: “...the use of moving the pufflings ... and the use of decoys, have now been used for around a third of all the seabird species in the world, including some ... critically endangered.” – Don Lyons ([37:54])
• Modern numbers: Roughly 3,000 puffins now breed on restored Maine islands.

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On Puffin Colonies:
  • “They like to nest together, and those can be very noisy places ... also smelly places. Birds, when they're all concentrated in one place, can produce a lot of bird poop.” – Don Lyons ([06:05])
• On telling puffins apart:
  • “I cannot tell if one's a male, one's a female ... The way we do eventually figure that out is ..., we extract the genes out of the blood, the DNA out of the blood, and with that DNA, we can tell whether it's a male or female.” ([29:10])
• On young puffins’ first flight:
  • “[Pufflings] ... often are jumping off cliffs and ending up in the water, which is okay. They’re good swimmers ... almost all puffins like to take off when they start flying from a high spot.” – Don Lyons ([22:16])
• On puffin conservation:
  • “But just as importantly ... the use of moving the pufflings ... and the use of decoys, have now been used for around a third of all the seabird species in the world, including some species that were critically endangered.” – Don Lyons ([37:54])
• On carrying fish:
  • “...the record that we’ve heard about ... is 62 [fish]. ... That bill is really designed, well, to hold lots of fish inside their mouth.” ([33:49])

Important Segment Timestamps

• [00:50] – Iceland intro, puffins described
• [04:12] – Don Lyons' role and seabird expertise
• [07:18] – Puffins as seabirds, life at sea
• [10:03] – Why are puffins’ beaks so colorful?
• [15:25] – Puffin burrows and nesting underground
• [20:43] – How do baby puffins learn to fly?
• [25:54] – Pufflings’ independence and migration
• [28:45] – How to tell puffins apart
• [30:16] – Fun facts: breath-holding, diving, fish-carrying
• [34:12] – The story of puffin conservation and recovery in Maine

Tone and Style

Friendly, warm, conversational, and accessible, with science explained in a clear and enthusiastic way. The host and expert both respect the curiosity and intelligence of their young listeners.

Takeaways

• Puffins’ colorful beaks and feet signal age and readiness to mate.
• Puffins are adventurous, resourceful, and tough—spending most of their lives at sea, lasting through storms, predators, and solitary winters.
• Conservation science and creative interventions (like using decoys!) can restore lost wildlife populations.
• Even the cutest, smallest seabirds have remarkable stories of resilience and adaptation.

If you’re curious about puffins—or about nature, science, or how conservation works—this episode is a must-listen for kids and adults alike.