What Is Puffling Season? The Unusual Time of Year Locals Throw Baby Puffins Into the Sea

If you love puffins, the unique-looking birds that often live on the cliffs of seaside communities, you may be interested in a usual Icelandic tradition that involves tracking down the puffin fledglings in an attempt to send them out into the world.

Residents living on the southern coast of the island nation have felt forced to start "puffling season" to help ensure the survival of the species. You can learn more about puffling season, including whether or not it does more harm than good, below.

Pufflings are the name for puffin babies. The Sea Bird Institute says these little babies go by the cute name until sometime around their sixth week of life when they reach maturity. At this point, the little birds will leave the nest and head out into the world at large looking for food and a mate to spend the rest of their days with.

"Puffling season" is the affectionate title given to the time of year when pufflings are ready to fledge and leave their homes behind. But, according to the Giant Freakin Robot website, sometimes they get a little confused during this time in their life, mistaking the manmade lights in the nearby city of Vestmannaeyja for the bright light of the moon, and they head in the wrong direction.

Residents then jump into action, spending their evenings strolling around town while looking for those young puffins who may need help getting where they need to go. Whether that means getting scooped up from the city streets and kept safely in a box overnight until they can be released or fishing them out of nearby waterways, the townsfolk get to work once the birds have begun making their move.

After they've rounded these little sea birds up, community members will take them to the top of a nearby cliff and toss them over the side in an attempt to not only send them out in the right direction but also to give them a little leg up when it comes to learning how to fly.

While you may be horrified at the idea of tossing young birds into the ocean from dozens of feet in the air, it sounds like some experts believe that this is a necessary step in ensuring that there are more little birds coming back at the start of next year's puffling season. 

This way, puffins can live to maturity and come back to create a new generation of pufflings. 

In 2022, a representative from the South Iceland Nature Center told NPR that it only takes a few bad puffling seasons for the Icelandic birds to disappear altogether. The representative also noted that puffins only lay one egg each season, with many opting to skip seasons in between, which is why residents have become so passionate about this project.

While there is no way of knowing what puffins make of this adventure, enough of them return each year to start the process all over again to make it seem like a successful program.