A Newfoundland puffin, a seabird that somehow ended up in Montreal, was scheduled Wednesday for repatriation, humane society officials said.

ADVERTISEMENT

The large-beaked black bird was spotted in a Montreal city pool by a veterinary technician Thursday, the National Post reported.

Puffins are slow to take to flight because of their body mass, so the bird's presence led Lynn Miller, co-founder of Le Nichoir, a rehabilitation center for wild birds, to speculate the bird arrived far west of its home turf aboard a ship.

"Puffins have been known to fly towards light and if a ship was coming through Newfoundland with the lights on, there's how he crashed onto the deck," Miller said.

A volunteer has kept the yearling bird in a bathtub of cold water, the Post said.

Air Canada has agreed to fly the puffin back to St. John's and the Canadian coast guard has volunteered to help relocate the bird to one of the shoreline puffin colonies, the newspaper said.