WATCH: Icelanders Hurl Baby Puffins Off Cliffs

Residents of Iceland were busy this year, as usual, tossing baby puffins off their nation's cliffs.

But it's a good thing.

Left to their own devices, the young puffins — known as "pufflings" — might stay in their nesting area for way too long and succumb to a dwindling food supply and risks from predators.

The little birds have become increasingly confused about exactly where the ocean is due to the bright lights of towns like Vestmannaeyjabaer in the Westman Islands where they nest, reports Smithsonian Magazine.

They usually follow the moon to the sea, but the array of lights often has them simply wandering away from their nesting colony, but not to the sea.

The national tradition of humans hurling the birds into the ocean has become vital to the species' survival, according to wildlife experts. The birds mate for life and produce only a single egg once a year.

Thanks to people, more of them are finding their wings — and the sea.

Puffin hurling is gaining a growing fan base, thanks to a TikTok video this week of clips of local residents enthusiastically tossing the birds. It had racked up 10 million views as of Thursday.

The puffins are happy to get on with their lives, and the people who help them are happy to do a good turn.

“It’s a great feeling because you just rescued this little guy. And when you bring him to the cliff — it’s the first time in his life he’s seeing the ocean," local Kyana Sue Powers explained to NPR.

“I’m always, like, ‘Bye, buddy—have a great life; I can’t wait to see you again!'”

Just six weeks after birth, pufflings grow to full size.

Then they're supposed to fly to the sea, where they float for up to four years before returning to land to make their own nests, according to the Audubon Seabird Institute

More than 700,000 puffin chicks were born in the Westman Islands in 2021. That's a return to almost normal numbers following two decades of falling population.

Some 60% of all the Atlantic puffins in the world breed on the Westman Islands.