Скачать или смотреть My favorite Icelandic tradition - Puffling Season

Baby puffins are called Pufflings and they leave their burrows high in the cliffs at the end of every summer. They fly to the ocean where they will spend the first 3-4 years of their lives learning to become strong swimmers and hunt fish.

But in the Westman Islands, the little puffers confuse the street lights in town with the moon and they end up crashing into town. They are too small to start flying on their own so they need to be rescued by locals.

Members of the community of all ages go out at night time to rescue the pufflings who have landed in town. They are usually weighed and recorded for data and kept safely in a box that resembles their burrows over night.

The next day, they are taken to seaside cliffs and gently tossed off into the ocean. They immediately start flying and are usually excited once they see the ocean. This is my absolute favorite thing to do every year.

This tradition runs deep in the Westman Islands and the method suits the locals well as it also helps to track the population. There is not necessary an organized group that goes out to rescue puffins. It’s more of a self search and rescue kind of patrol.