Earlier this month we learned that mayflies have a fatal attraction to outdoor lights.  So do fledgling puffins!

In August and September young puffins, called pufflings, make their first flight from their nesting islands in Newfoundland.  Guided by the light of the moon they head for the open ocean.  Unfortunately, when it’s foggy or moonless they’re confused by outdoor lights and head inland where they become stranded and die.

Years ago Juergen and Elfie Schau of Germany noticed stranded pufflings near their summer home at Witless Bay, Newfoundland so they rescued them and returned them to the sea.  Soon their neighbors joined them and in 2011 the project grew into the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society’s (CPAWS) annual Puffin and Petrel Patrol.

Travelers from around the world come to Witless Bay in late summer to help rescue baby puffins. The stranded birds are captured in small nets, placed in carriers, and released in the morning when the birds can see where they need to go — out to sea.

The video above shows a typical puffling rescue day at Witless Bay, NL. Look closely and you’ll see that this is the same beach where I saw the capelin rolling in July!  Newfoundland is awesome!!

Read more about the Puffin and Petrel Patrol in this article from Mother Nature Network. Thanks to John English for sharing it.

(video by CBC News: The National on YouTube)