Joel,

Yes, puffins - and rhinos - nest on vegetated rocks such as the Cannon
Beach Haystack Rock. The soil and grassy (Calamagrostis kamchatkensis)
cover are ideal for both large gulls and the burrow-nesters (the gulls
tend to nest in areas that are more bare or at least have shorter grass).

I don't know what mechanisms the puffins use to stave off gull attacks -
they are certainly formidable with that bill, but I have never seen a
gull harrass the Tufteds, who appear to gaze contentedly out to sea...

I have seen gulls harassing rhinos to a minor extent on the water.
Usually, the auklet can dive to avoid the Westerns, as can the small
alcids. However, when a rhino exits his/her burrow at night, they usually
pause & look around for a short while (getting their bearings?) before they
move on. I would guess - and this, of course, would only be a guess - that
their smaller, pale bill wouldn't confront a large gull with nearly the
effect that a puffin's bill would. I know that from handling Tufteds and
Rhinos, the rhino seems much less apt to take off one of my fingers....

In any event, the rhinos *generally* do not come and go from the nesting
burrow during the daytime (except in places like the Sea Lion Caves) when
the gulls are actively feeding (or can see
well enough to act the predator?). Neither do the other small burrow-
nesters like Leach's Storm-petrels or Cassin's Auklet. Leach's nest by
the 10s of thousands on several offshore rocks on the Oregon Coast - and
these rocks also have Western Gull colonies on them.

Whether or not the gulls will/can swallow rhinos *whole*, they can and
will kill and eat them if they have the opportunity. The success of the
rhino is dependent upon *not* becoming a gull's dinner... hence the
behavior of nighttime burrow access?

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, WA
anderjda at dfw.wa.gov


On Fri, 5 May 1995, Joel Levin wrote:

> Interesting...but I've seen tufted puffins share nesting grounds
> with gulls, notably on Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach, OR.
>
> Joel Levin
> Seattle, WA
>
> On Thu, 4 May 1995, Jon Anderson wrote:
>
> > In following the gulls-eat-birds thread, I was surprised to see doubt
> > expressed that gulls would eat large alcids (puffins were the example).
>