The puffins of Machias Seal Island are feeling the heat.
Scientists say there is a link between warming waters and changes in the birds' size and their beaks, as well as fluctuations in reproduction and the survival of chicks.
Machias Seal Island is a flat, treeless piece of rock located about 19 kilometres southwest of New Brunswick's Grand Manan Island at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy.
It is a sanctuary for seabirds, including about eight-thousand-600 breeding pairs of puffins.
Heather Major, a marine biology professor at the University of New Brunswick, and her team are studying puffins and other birds on the island with a focus on the impacts of climate change.
Data on puffins on Machias Seal Island have been collected since 1995 and one of the most notable observations made by scientists is that when the birds are old enough to leave the island to go to sea, they are smaller than they used to be.
Major says the birds' distinctive brightly coloured beaks — which they use to carry fish and possibly to attract mates — are getting larger.
The reason for the bigger beaks is unclear, but one hypothesis is that puffins may be using them to get rid of body heat; the larger the beak the more heat that can be shed.
