The Great and Mighty Puffin
I can't resist any longer.
The more I think about the word, the funnier it is.
Hence-my ode to puffins!
(It doesn't help that the regional magazine has an article titled "The Puffins of Witless Bay" either. )
Things you may not know about puffins:
Things you may not know about puffins:
- HOW DID PUFFINS GET THEIR NAME?
Puffin originally meant "fatling." The name was used to describe the chubby chicks of the Manx Shearwater, with which puffin chicks were confused. In the last half of the 1800’s the puffin was given the scientific name of Fratercula arctica, which means "little brother of the north" in Latin. Little brother may also be interpreted as ‘little friar’ an allusion to the puffin’s black and white plumage which is reminiscent of a friar’s robes. A second connotation of little friar may be drawn from the puffin’s sometime habit of holding it’s feet together when taking off, suggestive of hands clasped together in prayer. Regardless of the scientific name, local names still abound. These include such colorful names as "clown of the ocean" and "sea parrot." People used to claim that a puffin was actually a cross between a bird and a fish because of its superb ability to swim underwater. This allowed some people to eat puffin meat on lent and Fridays to avoid the prohibition of meat by the Catholic Church on these days. GREAT! I can still have me some meat on Friday! - HOW DO PUFFINS HELP PEOPLE? Puffins can serve as food for people. Locals of the Faroe Islands, Norway and Iceland have hunted puffins for centuries. The Lofoten people (Norway) use special puffin dogs to dig birds from burrows among narrow rocks. The Iceland and Faroe Island locals use a fleyg, which looks like a 4-meter long lacrosse pole, to catch puffins in flight. Hunters who do this require great skill and take pride in only taking puffins that are not bringing back food to their young. This reduces the take of breeders, if successful. Help me Help you Help me eat you.
- HOW DO PUFFINS FIND THEIR WAY HOME?
Puffin chicks leave a colony when they fledge and head off to the ocean without their parents. They remain in the open ocean until they are 2-3 years old. Then they return to the vicinity of the colony where they hatched and may nest near the burrow where they hatched. Scientists are unsure how puffins find their way home and are still learning how birds migrate. The puffins may make a mental map of their birthplace and use this to return later. They may use stars, the earth’s magnetic field, sounds, smells and the visual cues of the ocean to help them make this map. While the ocean appears uniform to us, to seabirds it holds vast amounts of information we can’t sense. We still have much to learn from the migrations of seabirds. Sooooo...what we're REALLY saying is, we haven't the faintest fucking clue. They just find their way home, EVEN when we change the locks.
Ah, can you TELL I'm lazy today? I had 3 hours sleep. It's REALLY hard to fight when kids get you up at 7am....ah well.
Information stolen from Project Puffin. You can also adopt a Puffin! I'd like one for my birthday if anyone was wondering....hint nudge wink....
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Posted by
Anonymous |
2:55 p.m.
PUFFIN!!! PUFFIN PUFFIN!!
Hey, do you remember (speaking of kids shows) H.R. Puffin Stuff??
Do you? It was a whacked out kids show with characters dressed up in freakish costumes with a story line that could only have been drug inspired. Do you remember the show's theme song? Remembering it will be a curse, because you will probably sing it in your head all day!! BWAHAHAHAHA!!!
If you change the words, you can make it about your boss...
"lil Miss Puffincunt,
I'ma gonna rough you up, etc...."
Posted by
Anonymous |
3:21 p.m.
The problem with puffins is that they chew through the lock on the cake tin and attack the family late at night. They leave a big mess and make your hands all sticky.
I particularly like the chocolate ones with coffee.
Oh bugger this dyslexia .
Best
Cass
Posted by
Anonymous |
3:25 p.m.
I was just thinking about HR Puffin Stuff when I read this blog. Yes...He had the talking flute in his pocket. It was great.
Posted by
Anonymous |
11:08 p.m.
Puffin is still a lovely word - and my equal favourite, as you know.
Puffin...
Such sweet little fellas - but they do need to work on the PR - those fucking Penguins get all the copy, with the Puffin being sidelined again and again.
Puffincunt.
Posted by
Anonymous |
7:15 a.m.
I always thought Puffin's were cool. I'm sure there are some around here somewhere....I'll have to find some.. (although if it involves going to Newfoundland, I ain't going)
And I was thinking about the word last night, and it is fun to say isn't it. It's almost soothing.....
Come on, penguins ARE cute in a constipated kind of way.
I'm lost on the Puffin Stuff thing-anyone have a picture? We didn't really have TV growing up...
Posted by
thordora |
10:41 a.m.
What? No H.R.Puffinstuff for you? Haha! Pissoff seems to remember. I forgot about the talking flute! Well, you're better off not seeing it, really. Some kid's shows should NEVER have been made.
Posted by
Anonymous |
3:12 p.m.