Puffin Patrols working in Iceland, Canada during summer to rescue stranded chicks

It's not quite as horrifying as it appears at first glance though. The volunteers are doing the baby seabirds a service!

For centuries, upwards of 500,000 breeding pairs of Atlantic puffins descend on Witless Bay in Newfoundland, Canada and the Westman Islands, Iceland.

From here, the birds will make their annual migration south for the winter. While the adult birds are able to use the moon and stars to navigate, the chicks are often confused by the town's lights.

So instead of heading towards the ocean, the pufflings end up stranded on roads.

When the chicks are turned around, the Puffin Patrol helps them back on their way.

Every night between August and October, volunteers walk along the roads and shores looking for the lost chicks.

Any chicks that are found are given a brief health check before being released back into the ocean to begin their southbound migration.

The Puffin Patrol, as they have beomce known, was started by a German couple, Juergen and Elfie Schau.

They had been regularly holidaying in Newfoundland, and seeing with increasing alarm the plight of the stranded chicks.

In 2006, the German couple enlisted the help of local school children, and in 2011, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) stepped in to oversee the operation.

Conservation co-ordinator for CPAWS, Kathy Unger, said in 2017 that around 730 puffins were rescued, as well as several hundred petrel chicks, when 300 volunteers lended their assistance.

"Since 2006, the program has been growing and growing," Ms Unger said.

"[Today the program] involves local businesses like whale watching companies that voluntarily let us use their boats to take the puffins out on releases.

"We have people from around the world emailing us about [how to get involved]. We also work with seabird biologists from the Canadian Wildlife Service who measure and tag the birds before release," Ms Unger told the Smithsonian in 2018.

"We're not unique here in Witless Bay with this problem, this is a case of habitat improvement to reduce light pollution," she said.

"We're working with [the local electric company] to ensure that street lighting in that area is less disruptive, and we're also going to local residences and businesses and changing out their light bulbs from really bright coloured bulbs to green or blue, along with adding light shields. It really makes a big difference.

"Studies have been done in other areas that show that [these changes] reduce strandings. For the last several years there has been more awareness and people are coming to me and asking what they can do. If people don't help, these birds don't have a chance."