Guillemots and kittiwakes nesting on cliff ledges. Photo credit: author.

Living in Close Quarters

Cliff-nesting seabirds of the Cliffs of Moher

The Cliffs of Moher are a sight to behold all year round, but from early spring to mid-summer, they become even more special, livelier, and louder since thousands of seabirds return to the coast for the breeding season. With some 30,000 pairs of nesting birds, the cliffs are the largest seabird colony in mainland Ireland.

I must admit that I’m not an avid birdwatcher but there is one species of bird that I’ve always wanted to see — the Atlantic puffin. As it happens to be one of approximately 20 species found at the Cliffs of Moher, there was no excuse not to go, early wake-up call and all.

At first, all we could find were gulls, or that’s what we thought. A rookie mistake because these were fulmars. At first glance, the tube-nosed seabirds may resemble gulls, but they are related to albatrosses. It’s a good thing we didn’t get close enough since they protect their nests from intruders by spitting out a bad-smelling oily mixture.

A pair of fulmars checking on their precious egg. Photo credit: author.

Arriving at the Great Stack made us pause for a minute to grasp the bizarre seabird colony occupying every ledge of a vertical cliff face. It’s like a natural multi-story building with thousands of inhabitants living side by side. The common guillemots or murres resemble small penguins from afar. They lay their single egg on a bare cliff, unlike kittiwakes — medium-sized gulls — that have made rows of nests, separating their tiny living space.

The Great Stack is a perfect multi-story building for the nesting seabirds. Photo credit: author.

Guillemots (the dark ones), kittiwakes (the light ones), and probably some razorbills (impossible to distinguish from guillemots from such a great distance) sharing the Great Stack. Photo credit: author.

Finally, we spotted some puffins sharing a grassy clifftop with razorbills. Their orange legs gave them away. Once we knew what to look for, it was easy to find a whole colony of these peculiarly cute seabirds.

Puffins and razorbills. Photo credit: author.

A shag stretching its wings and guillemots, razorbills, and puffins nesting on a cliff. Photo credit: author.

Puffins spend eight months in the open ocean and return to the same burrow for the rest of the year to meet their lifelong partner and rise a single puffling.

Puffins and razorbills. Photo credit: author.

Puffins and their burrows. Photo credit: author.

Puffins are quite the entertainers and funny to watch, but the Cliffs of Moher with their enormous size turned out not to be the best place for getting those epic puffin close-ups I had imagined. The birds were simply too far. Either we need to change the location or seriously upgrade our camera gear.