Puffin Snorefest. 22 July 1994, 8am, Great Island, Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, Newfoundland. Recorded by Lang Elliott.
In late July, I accompany two researchers to Great Island, a protected seabird sanctuary in Newfoundland’s Witless Bay. The island is the home to over 250,000 nesting Atlantic Puffins and the primary goal of my visit is to record their unusual buzzy snores, which sound like miniature chainsaws.
This is not an easy project. The puffins nest in burrows in fragile grassy areas on steep slopes at the edges of sheer cliffs that drop straight down to the ocean. One slip and I might tumble headlong over the cliff and fall a hundred or more feet to the rocky shoreline below.
To settle my nerves, I observe the puffins from a distance using binoculars and choose what looks like a good spot in front of a well-used burrow to place my microphone. Then I make my way to that location, causing many puffins to take flight. I step very carefully so as not to crush burrows or inhabitants hidden within. I place my microphone and then run nearly five hundred feet of audio cable back to our little research hut higher up the slope. From there, I patiently monitor the action through headphones.
As expected, the puffins quickly return and soon there is a lot of vocalizing. What’s more, one puffin is very close to my microphone, standing at the entrance to its burrow and making for an exciting soundscape. All hail the Atlantic Puffin and its buzzy snoring call!
