Puffin Bills Glow

BirdNote^®

Puffin Bills Glow

Written by Mark Bramhill

This is BirdNote.

Puffins are known for their flashy bills, striped in black, white, and vibrant yellow and orange, like a giant piece of candy-corn. They shed and regrow the bill’s colorful outer layer each year, likely donning their best attire to help attract a mate. But there’s more to their bills than meets the eye — well, the human eye, anyway.

[Puffin calls, ML 62361, 3:19-3:24]

New research has found that the bills of Atlantic Puffins glow brightly when exposed to ultraviolet blacklights. Neon, curved streaks appeared between the different colored segments of a puffin’s bill in this lighting, like a bird out of TRON. 

While these features are only visible to humans with the help of blacklights, many birds can see UV light. Scientists aren’t sure what the UV-highlights on puffins bills are for. But since the highlights are shed after the breeding season, it’s possible they help the birds further stand out to potential mates.

And if you were concerned about any puffins being blinded by powerful UV lights for this research, don’t worry. Researchers developed special, adorable puffin sunglasses to block the light from the birds’ eyes. 

[Puffin calls, ML 62361, 3:19-3:24]

With bills so bright, they gotta wear shades.

For BirdNote, I’m Mark Bramhill.

Today’s show brought to you by the Bobolink Foundation.

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Senior Producer: John Kessler
Production Manager: Allison Wilson
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone
Digital Producer: Conor Gearin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Atlantic Puffin ML 62361 recorded by W. Gunn.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2022 BirdNote    April 2022       
Narrator: Mark Bramhill

ID# puffin-05-2022-04-27        puffin-05

Reference: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00063657.2018.1563771?journ…;
PDF: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rebecca-Holberton/publication/3306…;