PUFFIN LOVERS WITH AN AUDIENCE - ETSY ESPAÑA EN ESPAÑA

This image is of two puffins engaged in a ritual behavior known as "billing." They have an onlooker and there is a story behind this episode of billing. The onlooker had approached the female first and leaned towards her as if to suggest that he would like to begin to bill with her. She literally whirled around away from him and went to her mate; and they both began to bill together immediately. The rival puffin is left to watch and wonder how he can find such a partner on this nesting island. It is stated that puffins mate for life. They spend the bulk of their time one open oceans but return to their nesting area each year for about 3-months. They mate, incubate their egg, feed their puffling chick, and then go back to the sea until the following nesting season. They engage in this billing behavior throughout the nesting season, and after the little puffling has hatched. Once a puffling chick fledges, it will not return for 3 years to find a mate for the rest of their lives.