The image is striking. The small bird quickly disappears into the abyss after a human throws it as far from dry land as possible. However, a background makes this a laudable action.
At first glance, the scene—produced on the coast of Iceland— could be summarized as follows: a person steps safely to the edge of the cliff and throws without doubt or complaint to a small bird that he had in his hands.
The apparent lack of humanity is actually a salvation method. It is that immediately after the expulsion, the puffin spreads its wings and disappears towards the ocean. It turns out that it had been lost in the urban world, where fortunately its inhabitants became accustomed to rescue tasks.
Why puffins are lost in Iceland
Not to all puffins This (possibly deadly) distraction happens to them. Its protagonists are the youngest, specifically the offspring. They are seriously affected by the artificial light of the towns on the aforementioned European island.
Confused by this type of brightness, they end up wandering the streets in complete disorientation. By then They are no longer able to fly again.
Humans were not indifferent. They organized to rescue them, taking them in boxes to the cliffs. That’s when They throw them towards the Atlantic so that they continue their life cycle, detailed the historic American magazine National Geographic.
On the one hand, the animals recover life so close to what seemed an inevitable end, while on the other Icelanders strengthen their community ties. Among its other consequences is also the greater knowledge of the inhabitants with their natural surroundings.
An ancestral relationship
The relationship between the inhabitants of Iceland and the puffins takes long centuries. According to the organization The Puffling Patrolis sea birds They were not only part of the landscape, but also of subsistence: for generations Their hunting provided food and feathers.
Over time, this logic of resource use was transformed. It became a gesture of care. Particularly in the Vestman Islandsin the south of said country.
There each August a scene that goes between ritual and environmental awareness. In that month of the year, Entire families walk the streets at nightfall. They do it with flashlights and boxes in search of pufflings – puffin babies.
Over in the United Kingdom, a flagship island in conservation
Among the countries that also have the presence of puffins is the United Kingdom. A strange phenomenon occurred there taking into account the delicate state of this species.
It happens that These birds are marked with the status of «vulnerable» according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Even so, the little girl isla Skomer —located near the coast of Gales— became a success in the conservation of these species, susceptible to extinction.
As an example, in 2025 they registered 43,626 puffins on Skomer Island. It was the highest number ever recorded. The reason lies in nothing less than “conservation success,” according to statements by the South and West Wales Wildlife Trust rescued by the British chain BBC.
Such an organization is responsible for the seabird fauna on the island of no more than 2.92 square kilometers. Their care tasks are favored by isolated character of that territorywhich protects it from predators such as foxes and rats, and also from human impact.
