Puffins live primarily in the North Atlantic Ocean and breed on coastal cliffs and islands in this region. Specifically, Atlantic puffins nest from Labrador down to the Northeastern United States in North America, and in Europe from the Brittany Coast of France northwards to Iceland, Greenland, and Northern Russia. The largest populations are found in Iceland, which hosts about 60% of the world's Atlantic puffins. Other significant breeding locations include Norway, the Faroe Islands, Shetland and Orkney Islands, Greenland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Maine in the U.S. Puffins prefer islands and sea cliffs for breeding, often nesting in burrows or crevices to avoid predators
. In the U.K., notable puffin colonies can be found on the Farne Islands (Northumberland), Bempton Cliffs (Yorkshire), Skomer Island (Pembrokeshire), Sumburgh Head (Shetland Islands), and the Isles of Scilly
. Outside the breeding season, puffins spend most of their time at sea in the North Atlantic, sometimes ranging as far south as the Mediterranean Sea and North Carolina in winter
