UNB researchers find 33-year-old puffin, marking a known record age for the bird

Isabelle Leger · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 10, 2025 2:49 PM EDT | Last Updated: July 10

How aged is an aged puffin? 

Well, the oldest known puffin successful New Brunswick — and Canada — was recovered this week astatine 33 years old. 

Researchers astatine the Atlantic Laboratory for Avian Research, done the University of New Brunswick, located the puffin calved successful 1992 connected Machias Seal Island, located successful the Gulf of Maine, with its archetypal recognition bands from implicit 3 decades ago. 

Daniel Oliker, a postgraduate pupil astatine the University of New Brunswick studying Atlantic puffin ecology, says he's assured saying this is the oldest puffin ever recaptured successful the state — its archetypal seizure was erstwhile it was banded — and it's among the oldest crossed North America. 

"It's beauteous important and it's a unsocial portion of accusation to gather," Oliker said.

Records bespeak the erstwhile oldest was 29 years old, "so this 1 beats our grounds by 4 years which is beauteous substantial." 

The probe squad has been monitoring puffins and 5 different taxon of seabirds, including  razorbills, communal murres and Leach's tempest petrels, connected Machias Seal Island since 1995. 

Before that, Canada Wildlife Services had unit who lived connected the land to oversee tourer landings, observe birds connected the land and set puffin chicks. 

While researchers contiguous usage 2 metallic bands arsenic recognition markers, integrative bands were utilized for a mates of years aft the probe programme began. 

When a researcher spotted a puffin wearing a integrative set earlier this week, Oliker said, the squad knew it indispensable beryllium precise old. 

They waited until dark, erstwhile puffins are much apt to beryllium successful their burrows, and past went searching.

"We grubbed a clump of burrows," Oliker said. "That conscionable means sticking your manus successful the burrow and looking for the bird.  And past I felt thing that didn't consciousness similar a metallic set connected a bird's leg, but a integrative one …  truthful I pulled it out.

"Lo and behold, it was a integrative one, and this set was truly chill due to the fact that it was highly worn out, the astir worn-out set I've ever seen."  

Oliker said numbers connected the set were inactive legible, and it was determined this puffin was past seen successful 2007. 

"Just being capable to find that bird, benignant of getting fortunate getting to the close burrow and really making retired what the set fig said was a spot of luck," helium said.

"It was precise exciting, it's ever amusive to get those aged birds and spot their history."  

Tony Diamond, who started the Machias Seal Island probe programme 30 years agone and so, said this find shows however driven that radical of researchers is, due to the fact that of however hard that recognition set would person been to read. 

He said this find unsocial conscionable expanded the magnitude of this probe task successful entirety by respective years, truthful it's significant. 

"It's not conscionable a measurement of however agelong the puffins live, it's a measurement of however agelong that probe has been going," Diamond said.

"It's precise breathtaking that they caught that bird, and it speaks highly of their motivation." 

Oliker said the puffin present sports a caller metallic band, truthful researchers connected the land tin proceed monitoring it for years to come. 

He said this benignant of accusation is important to recognize the longevity and lifespan of puffins, however galore chicks they tin rear successful their lifetime, and however they've fared done biology changes. 

"Being calved successful 1992, [this puffin] has gone done a batch successful its lifetime, particularly successful the past 20 years oregon so, with the benignant of drastic changes successful the environment," Oliker said. 

"It's inactive capable to rise chicks and hopefully rise palmy chicks, and it's inactive alive. So it tells america a batch astir however hardy and persistent these birds are."