Iceland

In Vestmannaeyja, an island located just off the southern coast of Iceland, people come together as a community during the puffling season. This is when they catch baby puffins and toss them out to the sea. It might sound cruel, but this nudge is what helps them thrive.

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Baby puffins, called pufflings, are known to fly from their colony towards the sea once they reach maturity. They later return to land to breed.  Pufflings live in cliffside nests and follow the light of the moon to reach the ocean.

However, since several buildings have come up on the island’s coastlines, artificial lighting confuses a few of them. Several of these pufflings get lost and head the wrong way after following building lights. 

So during this season, people living on the island come together to help the tiny pufflings find their way. The birds can be found scattered across town, inside crevices and corners. So the "puffling patrol" gets to work and heads out into the night. 

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They carry with them a cardboard box and a flashlight. They search for pufflings, pick them up and put them in the box poked with holes. People who participate in the drill say that it is normal to find at least 10 pufflings every night. 

Some residents told the Smithsonian Magazine, that in a season, approximately 125 baby puffins can be located spread across town. Finding them is easiest at night, so the patrol is carried out in the dark.

The puffins are kept at their homes overnight and the next day people head out to cliffsides.

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Here they free the puffins and give them a little nudge. Instead of waiting for them to take off by themselves, residents of the island use an underhand technique and launch the puffins off the cliff and towards the ocean.

Why throw the puffins?

Experts say that throwing puffins off the cliff is helping the species to survive. This is because puffins mate for life and incubate one singular egg per season. There is also no guarantee that they will lay an egg the next year. 

Martínez Catalán of the South Iceland Nature Center told NPR, “If you have one failed generation after another after another after another, the population is through, pretty much."

Throwing the puffins has become a family tradition for many.