Tufted Puffins are almost here!

          Have you ever  seen a Tufted Puffin?

Well, if you haven't  you should plan on making a trip to Cannon Beach's Haystack Rock a National Bird Sanctuary. Puffins are dear to our community. Last year around mid April the school children gathered to welcome the puffins home as part of the Earth Day Celebration.

Last evening I attended the second of  four part lecture series held by The Cannon Beach Library and last night with the Haystack Rock Awareness Program HRAP. It was free and very well attended and enjoyed by all. 

The topic was "Tufted Puffin Monitoring" put on by Shawn Stephenson who is a wildlife biologist for the     U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. We learned that the puffin population has had a extreme decline in the last 20 years....from 4,600 to 142 along the whole Oregon coast.

The good news is that the largest colony of puffins (51) is at Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach. Instead of nests they have burrows and they are paired for life. The oldest recorded puffin was 33 years old.

During mating season they become more colorful as seen in the picture above.

If you want a unique experience...come to Cannon Beach in April and Welcome the Puffins Home.