This is always one of my favourite parts of spring. Writing a story in just 50 words is a challenge, but it's so much fun.
Thanks so much to Vivian Kirkfield and all the amazing prize donors who contributed. You can learn more about them here:
This year I was thinking about the poor baby puffins, called pufflings) who mistake city lights for the moon and end up stranded in cities. Volunteers search for these clumsy fliers, and sometimes give them an extra boost on their way out to see by tossing them from a clifftop! If the puffin dives once it reaches the water, that's a good sign that the little bird will probably make it out to sea successfully.
Puffin Toss
By Natasha Zimmers
Pufflings launch into darkness,
following the moon to sea.
But…
city lights,
moon look-alikes,
misguide
to city streets.
Searchers seek
the frightened fledglings.
Net, gloves, and flashlights,
one grumpy puffling to a box.
Up on a clifftop,
One…
Two…
Three…
Flap puffling, flap!
Dive puffling, dive!
Be free.
This photo was from the Newport Aquarium where the puffins were very silly and very funny! Puffins only have their fancy beaks during breeding season, so pufflings don't look much like their parents.
Learn more about Puffling Patrol
In Iceland:
In Newfoundland:
If you want to read a picture book about a puffin, here are some recommendations:
And finally, here is a very silly puffin from our visit to the Newport Aquarium last summer:
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