Iceland’s Puffling Rescuers

Residents of Iceland’s Westman Islands are currently on puffin patrol. During the months of August and September, an annual tradition brings entire families out to the streets and harbor of Vestmannaeyjar late at night, where they work to find and rescue misguided young puffins, called pufflings. During their first flight, the pufflings can become confused in the darkness, flying from sea cliffs toward city lights rather than toward the moonlight, ending up stranded on dangerous city streets. Once they are rescued, the pufflings are brought to either a beach or a cliff to be released to the sea. The photographer Micah Garen recently followed some of these young rescuers on patrol on the island of Heimaey.

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