Footage show Icelanders helping help baby puffins take flight and start migration - by throwing them off a cliff.<br /><br />The practice takes place every year at the end of summer in the Westman Islands, an archipelago off Iceland’s south coast.<br /><br />Puffins only occupy the islands in the summer and migrate out to sea in August and September following the moon.<br /><br />The new hatchlings drop from their burrows on cliffs to kick-start their flight but lights from the archipelago's main town Vestmannaeyjabær confuse the birds. <br /><br />The baby puffins - which are called pufflings - crash into town and are unable to take flight again.<br /><br />As a results, villagers go out at night on "puffling patrol". <br /><br />They collect the baby birds in boxes before tossing them back off the cliffs, allowing them to take flight and migrate correctly.<br /><br />Kyana Powers, 30, moved to the capital Reykjavik in 2018 and takes part in the practice every year.<br /><br />She said: "The instinct of the puffins is to fly out to sea, but the lights of the town confuse them.<br /><br />"They crash into the ground like little airplanes and just walk around. They don't even know they're somewhere they aren't supposed to be.<br /><br />"The townspeople collect them in boxes and throw them off the cliff so that they can take flight again."<br /><br />There is no official count of how many puffins are rescued, but there is a website on which users can register rescued birds, which counts 2952 hatchlings this year.<br /><br />The event is not organised by the government or wildlife charity, rather, it's just an informal local tradition. <br /><br />Kyana, who owns a media production company and promotes tourism in Iceland, explained: "It's an old tradition. There is no organisation planning it. <br /><br />"Everyone just goes out as a community and does what they can."<br /><br />Locals treat it almost like a holiday, and it is considered a fun, family event as well as something done for conservation.<br /><br />Kyana, who is originally from Boston, Massachusetts, USA, was very confused when she first saw the tradition taking place.<br /><br />She said: "I was walking around and had no idea what was going on. There were tons of people on the streets. It looked like Halloween.<br /><br />"People would suddenly run into alleys or start fussing with something in the corner."<br /><br />Once Kyana understood, she quickly fell in love with the unique practice.<br /><br />She added: "I love it, it gets the whole community involved, the kids are out helping and their parents also take part."
