Puffins Return to Oregon Coast in Spring 2026: Where to Find Them - Video

Published 03/31/26 at 7:45 a.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Cannon Beach, Oregon) – Fairly soon, we'll begin to see the adorable puffins return to this region. Especially at Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach, it's here where they'll be most visible throughout the year. Yet unknown to many, they'll also be visible on the south Oregon coast at Bandon's Face Rock and at times at Coquille Point, also at Bandon. Ram Papish photo - [ see where to stay for this ]

Thus come a few celebrations along the coastline, with the largest one up north, but the south coast has its own quiet way of showing you the lovely and lively feathered friend - and throughout the season.

The Haystack Rock Awareness Program, in partnership with Friends of Haystack Rock, will host the 2026 Welcome the Puffins Celebration on Saturday, April 18, from 7:30 to 10 a.m. at Haystack Rock. The annual event invites visitors to gather on the beach - rain or shine - to mark the return of tufted puffins to their nesting grounds.

SEE THE VIDEO OF PUFFINS

Interpreters will be on site with binoculars and spotting scopes to help visitors safely view puffins and other seabirds. Families can take part in hands-on activities, including a tufted puffin learning station and the Tufted Puffin Predator Game, which highlights the natural and human-caused threats the birds face during breeding season.

Those unable to attend can follow the celebration live on the program’s Facebook and Instagram pages.

On the south coast, Shoreline Education for Awareness (SEA) will open its spring training season on April 23 with an on-site session for Face Rock Wildlife Interpreters, beginning at 9 a.m. at Face Rock Wayside.

Puffin Party 10 a.m. The group follows with a May 2 interpretive seminar at Coquille Point, where volunteers and visitors will gather at 10 a.m. to welcome the returning tufted puffins.

May 2 also features a presentation by a speaker from the Bird Alliance of Oregon before participants head to Face Rock to look for the birds offshore. A separate puffin seminar with the same guest speaker is scheduled for 1 p.m. in the Sprague Room at the Bandon Library, with remote access available via Zoom at this link.

Every weekend May 3 – July 26, there will be Face Rock Wildlife Interpretation every Saturday and Sunday, 9am – 11 a.m..

Other kinds of wildlife can be seen near Coos Bay every weekend May 22 – Sept 7: there will be Simpson Reef Wildlife Interpretation on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 11am – 3pm. https://sea-edu.org/events/

These cute lil' black beasties live hundreds of miles out at sea - normally.

Friends of Haystack Rock

Tufted puffins return to land only to breed, making spring and summer the best time to see them along the Oregon Coast. From April through August, Haystack Rock hosts the state’s largest publicly visible colony. Puffins also appear at Bandon’s Face Rock area, though sightings there are typically more challenging.

The birds usually arrive in early April, often reuniting with lifelong mates and returning to the same burrows used in previous years. They spend roughly 16 weeks preparing burrows, incubating a single egg for about 43 days, and raising their chick, known as a puffling. By late June through August, adults can sometimes be seen carrying fish back to their burrows. Pufflings fledge 38 to 59 days after hatching, departing at night for the open ocean, where they spend the winter without parental care.

Puffins in Oregon: A Call to Action

Ram Papish

Tufted puffins in Oregon have experienced steep declines. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated roughly 4,858 birds statewide in 1988; by 2021, the population had fallen to just 553. At Haystack Rock - Oregon’s second-largest colony and one of the most accessible viewing sites in the Northwest - numbers have dropped from about 400 birds in 1978 to just over 100 in recent years.

In response, Audubon’s Seabird Institute, with support from Friends of Haystack Rock, created a Tufted Puffin Coordinator position to strengthen conservation efforts. A growing working group - including the Friends of Haystack Rock, Haystack Rock Awareness Program, National Audubon Society, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon State University, American Bird Conservancy, Bird Alliance of Oregon, and others - is pursuing a 10-year plan to halt the decline through research, habitat protection, outreach, and community engagement.

“As important as it is that we continue taking action to protect Tufted Puffins in Oregon, it’s equally important for people to understand why protecting this remarkable seabird matters,” said Katherine Luscher, Tufted Puffin Conservation Coordinator with Audubon’s Seabird Institute. “Events like Welcome the Puffins help build community support for conservation - plus, it’s impossible not to smile when you see one of Oregon’s iconic seabirds.”

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