Sunday, May 23, 2010

The Secret Life of Puffins

Hawks have their nestcams, and now puffins do too. Two webcams are monitoring the progress of an Atlantic Puffin nest in the U.K., and the live feed is being streamed online.

Two cameras have been put around a puffin burrow at Sumburgh Head on Shetland, and images are being beamed to the nation via the RSPB website.

The puffincam is part of the wildlife charity’s ‘Date With Nature’ at Sumburgh Head, one of many UK-wide projects aimed at giving people up close and personal experiences with nature.

Newton Harper, Date with Nature Assistant, says: “We hope that by seeing these incredible images, people will feel even more passionate about Shetland’s seabirds, especially puffins, or ‘Tammy Nories’ as they are known in the islands.

“Sumburgh Head is one of the most accessible places in Shetland to see puffins and now with our puffincam people can also watch them from the comfort of their own home.

“Puffins are perhaps the nation’s favourite seabirds and I have heard that people are watching the camera from dawn to dusk.”
You can find the live feed on the RSPB website.