What is a Pelagic Bird?

Pelagic (pronounced with a soft "a") or oceanic species spend most of their lives in the open seas.

An  example is the albatross family, famous for their "wandering" about the oceans, and as a metaphor in Coleridge's The Ancient Mariner.  Unfortunately, the great poem gave the Albatross a bad name. There's nothing scary or mean about an albatross.  Coleridge used  this  as a metaphor because superstitious sailors of the day believed the bird contained 'the souls of dead sailors'. The Great/Wandering Albatross is the world's largest flying bird, and can have a wingspan of up to 11 feet and a weigh 25 lbs.  Imagine having to carry one of those around your neck! (I'll never forgot the speech impaired Mayor of Boston who once said that "high taxes are like an Alcatraz around your neck")

Puffins and albatrosses may spend most of their days "out to sea" but birds lay eggs, unlike fish eggs, avian eggs need nests and nests need land. Atlantic Puffins nest on small islands like Machias Seal Island and others of the coast of Northern Maine and Canada.  They arrive in large colonies in May, each female can lay one egg. After the eggs  hatch and the young bird is ready to fledge, the parents head out back to sea for until the following spring.  Oh yes, the Puffins are monogomous, one pair stays together "till death do them part"