Key takeaways
- Puffin Island, or Lundey, is a rocky outcrop in Skjálfandi Bay where thousands of puffins nest in burrows carved into the soft turf each breeding season.
- Around 10,000 pairs of puffins arrive to breed on the island, making it one of Iceland's most important nesting colonies for these colorful seabirds.
- Puffins return to Lundey in April and remain through August, departing as summer fades to spend winter months far out at sea hunting fish.
- The RIB speedboat approaches close enough to observe puffins in detail, though rough seas occasionally force skippers to keep a safer distance from the rocky shoreline.
- The island's steep cliffs and burrow-friendly soil provide ideal breeding habitat, while surrounding waters offer abundant fish and protection from land predators.
Lundey: Iceland's Puffin Island
Puffin Island, known locally as Lundey, sits in Skjálfandi Bay near Húsavík and hosts one of Iceland's most accessible puffin colonies. The island's name means simply 'puffin island' in Icelandic, a fitting title for a place where these charismatic seabirds arrive each spring to breed. During the puffin boat tour season from April through August, thousands of birds crowd the island's cliffs and grassy slopes. The island itself is small and rocky, ringed by steep walls where puffins nest in burrows dug into the soft turf that caps the volcanic stone. A puffin boat cruise from Húsavík typically approaches close enough to observe the birds at eye level, though the exact distance depends on sea conditions and nesting activity on any given day.
The island's geology makes it ideal puffin habitat. Beneath a layer of grass and moss lies volcanic rock soft enough for puffins to excavate burrows with their feet and beaks, yet stable enough to prevent collapse. Each breeding pair returns to the same burrow year after year, maintaining and deepening it over time. The turf itself is low and sparse in places, creating a patchwork landscape that from the water appears almost barren. Yet this harsh-looking terrain is precisely what puffins need: solid ground for nesting, with enough vegetation to anchor burrows and provide shelter from the Atlantic wind.
How Puffins Dig and Defend Their Burrows
Puffins are surprisingly aggressive architects. Using their short, powerful legs and sharp claws, they excavate burrows up to three feet deep, often kicking soil backwards in showers. Their stubby bills, specially adapted for gripping fish, also serve as a digging tool. Once a burrow is established, the pair defends it fiercely against rival puffins seeking prime nesting spots. These conflicts can turn violent, with birds striking at each other's heads and bodies. The burrow entrance itself becomes a defended territory, and puffins spend considerable time perched near their homes, watching for intruders.
A single breeding pair occupies one burrow throughout the season. The female lays a single egg in a small chamber at the burrow's end, lined with feathers and dry grass. Both parents take turns incubating the egg and later feeding the chick. The burrow's depth and solid construction protect the developing chick from predators and harsh weather. When you observe Lundey from a puffin boat cruise, you're seeing a landscape completely honeycomb with these individual homes, each one representing a pair's investment in raising the next generation.
The Puffin's Unlikely Flight and Wing Speed
Despite their adorable appearance, puffins are among the least graceful fliers in the bird world. Their wings beat at an astonishing 400 times per minute, making a rapid whirring sound as they move. This extreme wingbeat frequency is necessary because puffins have short, stubby wings relative to their stocky bodies, making them aerodynamically challenged. Take-off requires running along the ground or water, flapping frantically until they achieve lift. Landing is equally clumsy, often resulting in tumbles and skids. Yet this inefficient design serves a purpose: those same short, powerful wings are perfectly shaped for 'flying' underwater, propelling puffins through the ocean with remarkable agility as they hunt fish.
Puffins crowd Lundey's slopes, beaks full of sand eels
Why Puffins Carry Multiple Fish at Once
One of the most distinctive sights on any puffins boat tour is a puffin returning to its burrow with a bill full of small fish. A single bird can carry ten to twenty fish at once, held in place by fleshy ridges on the roof of its mouth. This ability allows a parent to make fewer trips to the burrow while feeding a growing chick. Each fish is typically small, around two to three inches long, and puffins catch them during deep dives that can reach 200 feet below the surface. The bird's specialized bill has rough edges and a slight hook at the tip, allowing it to grip slippery prey without dropping it. This distinctive image of the orange-billed puffin laden with fish has made the species an icon of Iceland's wildlife.
Puffin Pairs and Their Lifelong Bond
Puffins are famously monogamous, with pairs often reuniting at the same burrow year after year across multiple breeding seasons. A pair may stay together for a decade or more, developing a strong partnership that increases their breeding success. When both members of a pair return to Lundey after their winter at sea, they engage in courtship displays and burrow maintenance together. They take turns sitting on the egg and later sharing the demanding work of feeding their single chick throughout the summer. This lifelong commitment is unusual among seabirds and contributes to the puffin's reputation as a symbol of devotion.
The bond between mates is reinforced through regular grooming and synchronized behaviors. Pairs often stand side by side near their burrow entrance, and they perform elaborate greeting rituals when one partner returns from a fishing trip. If one member of a pair fails to return after winter migration, the surviving bird may seek a new mate, but the preference for returning to the same location and same partner is strong. This fidelity is one reason why puffins return reliably to islands like Lundey each spring, making them a dependable sight on any puffin boat tour during the breeding season.
The Puffin's Mysterious Winter at Sea
For eight months of the year, puffins vanish from Lundey and other breeding islands, dispersing far out into the Atlantic Ocean. Once chicks fledge in August and September, both young and adult puffins leave land and spend the winter months entirely at sea, ranging from Iceland's coast to the waters off Greenland, Norway, and even as far south as the Bay of Biscay. During these winter months, puffins rest on the water's surface, diving frequently to feed on small fish and crustaceans. They grow a more subdued plumage and lose the bright orange and yellow coloring on their bills and feet. No one fully understands how puffins navigate back to their specific breeding burrows after months away, yet they do so with remarkable precision each spring.
This long absence at sea means that puffins spend only four months actually present on land. The intensity of the breeding season reflects this time constraint. Pairs must reunite, breed, incubate an egg, and raise a chick to fledging, all between April and August. This compressed timeline makes the summer months on Lundey a period of constant activity, with birds arriving and departing throughout the day. For visitors joining a puffin boat cruise, seeing these birds during their brief terrestrial window is a rare privilege.
When Rough Seas Close Access to Lundey
Puffin boat tours from Húsavík generally operate throughout the breeding season, but rough seas can make a visit to Lundey impossible. The island's exposed location in Skjálfandi Bay means it is directly exposed to Atlantic swells and strong winds. When seas become too rough, a RIB speedboat cannot safely approach the island's cliffs, and the route may be adjusted to explore other parts of the bay or skip the island entirely. This is why tour operators emphasize the unpredictable nature of wildlife and weather when booking a puffins boat tour. Seas tend to be calmest in early morning hours and often rougher in afternoon and evening. Summer months from June through July offer more stable conditions than April, May, and August.
If you're planning a puffin boat cruise and weather is a concern, booking earlier in the day and during mid-summer provides the best chance of reaching Lundey. Tour operators monitor conditions constantly and adjust itineraries accordingly, prioritizing safety over island visits. Even if rough water prevents a close approach to Lundey itself, you may still see puffins in the broader waters of Skjálfandi Bay, as birds travel between feeding grounds and the island throughout the day.
