Piers

Hi! My name is Piers and I am an Atlantic Puffin.

Puffin Facts

Puffins like me are really popular birds because of our clown-like coloring. Some people even call us “sea parrots” because we have a colorful beak and bright orange legs and feet. But did you know our beaks fade to grey during the winter? In the spring the fun coloring comes back.

We spend most of the year out on the open sea; only coming to the land to lay eggs in borrows on cliffs by the ocean. When we’re not flying or swimming we just rest on the water. When we’re swimming or hunting we can dive up to 200 feet under the water to catch small fish or other sea creatures that we like to eat. In the air, God has designed us to be excellent flyers. We beat our wings at 400 beats per minute and can reach speeds of 55 miles (88 kilometers) per hour!

Class: Aves (birds)
Order: Charadriiformes (shorebirds and relatives)
Family: Alcidae (auks)
Genus/Species: Fratercula arctica
Size: 12-14 in (30-36 cm)
Weight: About 1 lb (0.5 kg)
Diet: Small fish, crustaceans, and mollusks
Habitat: Cold places; Greenland and Northern Canada, Gulf of St. Lawrence, Eastern Canada, Northeast United States, Iceland, Northern Scandinavia, Northern Russia, Ireland, and the Northwest coast of France.

Character Trait

I want to remind you to trust the Lord! In the Bible we read about a man named Noah. God told Noah that He was sending a worldwide Flood to judge sin and that Noah was to build an Ark to save his family and two of every kind of land-dwelling, air-breathing animal. Even though he didn’t see a Flood right away, he trusted in God. Just like Noah, we can rely on God to help us trust Him with our lives.

Verse

“But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord; I say ‘You are my God.’” (Psalm 31:14).

Apologetics Focus

As a puffin, I spend most of my time out on the open ocean. Out there it’s water, water, everywhere with no land anywhere in sight. But I know there is land and when the time comes to go back to the land, I’ll find it. Did you know there was a time in history when the whole earth was actually covered in water? There was no land at all!

This happened during the global Flood of Noah’s day. Do we find evidence that the whole earth was once covered in water? Yes! Here’s an example: we find fossils of sea creatures on the very tops of mountains. Now how’d they get there? The Flood gives us the answer!

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