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Puffins on Runde – Norway's Bird Island

Late May 2024, four days on Runde: the small island off Norway's west coast hosts one of Scandinavia's largest bird cliffs — half a million seabirds, among them tens of thousands of Atlantic puffins. Climb to the breeding cliff in the evening and sooner or later you are sitting in the middle of the colony. A field report about birds that never learned to be shy, and the gear to match.

Atlantic puffin approaching with spread wings against the dark sea, Runde — Final approach to the colony: puffin against the dark Norwegian Sea — Canon EOS R5, RF 100-500 mm at 500 mm, 1/8000 s, f/8, ISO 12800.

The best hours start at ten in the evening

Puffins spend the day at sea. Only late in the evening do they return by the thousands to Runde's grassy cliffs — and since the sun barely sets in late May, their homecoming lands right in the best light. The climb to the breeding cliff takes a good hour; at the top you sit down in the grass, wait, and after twenty minutes the first birds land two metres away. Shyness is simply not a category here: stay calm and you become part of the scenery.

Calling puffin with wide-open bill on a rock, Runde — The growling call from the burrow sounds like a distant chainsaw — RF 800 mm f/11, 1/800 s, ISO 2500.

Frontal close-up portrait of an Atlantic puffin, Runde — Close enough for the 70-200: portrait at 200 mm, 1/250 s, ISO 1000.

The spread of focal lengths says everything about this place: the same subject, once at 800 mm across the gully, once at 200 mm at arm's length. When the birds stand in golden evening light in front of their burrows, the real difficulty is not distance — it is choosing.

Two puffins in golden evening light between grasses, Runde — Midnight sun as studio light: pair outside the burrow — 500 mm, 1/400 s, ISO 2500.

Three puffins close together at the entrance of their burrow, Runde — Neighbourhood meeting at the burrow entrance — 200 mm, 1/320 s, ISO 800.

The gannets of Rundebranden

Runde is more than puffins: on the west side, northern gannets breed in a densely packed colony on the sheer wall, joined by kittiwakes, razorbills, shags and skuas patrolling the slopes. From the boat the whole spectacle unfolds from below — the white wall of birds, the constant coming and going, and with a little luck a gannet taking off right next to the boat.

Gannets flying in formation along the rock face of their colony, Runde — Shuttle traffic along the colony wall — 500 mm, 1/6400 s, ISO 2500.

Northern gannet taking off from the water surface with spread wings, Runde — Runway Atlantic: gannet at take-off — 500 mm, 1/8000 s, ISO 4000.

And because the weather on this coast changes by the hour, the postcard shot came free of charge at the end: a rainbow over the cliffs, late in the evening, as the sun slipped under the clouds one more time.

Rainbow over the golden-lit cliffs of Runde late in the evening — Late evening on the west coast — Leica M11-P, Summicron 35 mm, 1/250 s, ISO 200.

The gear: three telephotos for one cliff

In 2024, Runde was a three-lens outing on the Canon EOS R5: the RF 100-500 mm as the workhorse for flight shots and the colony from the boat, the featherweight RF 800 mm f/11 for subjects across the gully — and, surprisingly often, the RF 70-200 mm f/2.8, because the puffins were simply too close for anything else. For the approaches: 1/6400 s to 1/8000 s — a puffin beats its wings up to 400 times a minute, and in dusk light the ISO may go five-digit for that; noise can be removed, motion blur cannot. The Leica M11-P meanwhile took care of the rainbow. And as always, the full cards went through RAWFetcher in the evenings — the 87 images in this album are what remains of four long nights at the cliff.

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