The Horned Puffin
The
Horned Puffin is the North Pacific equivalent of
the Atlantic Puffin. It breeds off the coasts of
eastern Siberia from the northern Kurile Island,
Sakhalin Island, the Kamchatka Peninsula and the
Commander Islands in the USSR, north around the
shore of the Bering Sea to the Diomede Island and
the Chukchi Sea, and on through the Aleutian chain
and along the coast of Alaska. It has spread south
to Queen Charlotte Island in British Columbia and,
in recent summers, numbers have also been seen
around Vancouver Island, where the species may well
be found to be breeding.
The Horned Puffin is indeed very similar to the
Atlantic Puffin, but fortunately their ranges do
not overlap so there can be no confusion. A plump,
medium-sized auk, in breeding plumage the Horned
Puffin is black above, including a black cap and
collar, and white below. Its face is greyish-white
with a swollen, red eye-ring and a small, fleshy
'horn' projecting upwards from the eye, from which
the species get its name (incidentally, the Atlantic
Puffin has a similar, though smaller horn). The thin
black line running backwards from the eye across the
Horned Puffin's cheek gives it a rather oriental
expression. The feet are reddish orange and the huge
swollen bill is yellow, with a reddish tip and an
orange wattle at the gape Just like its Atlantic
cousin, in winter it loses the colourful sheath
around the bill, which becomes smaller and much
darker, with a reddish tip.. It also loses the
fleshy horn above the eye and the cheeks become
heavily washed grey, giving the whole bird a duller
and drabber appearance. The juvenile is even duller,
with a smaller and darker bill.
When seen clearly the
Horned Puffin is unmistakable, but it does need
to be distinguished from the
Tufted Puffin.
The latter has an all-black body and never shows
clean white under parts. In winter, when the
colourful facial decorations are shed, Horned
Puffins can be separated from murres by their
stubbier appearance, proportionally larger head and
deeper bill. At long range, the dark chin is an
important distinction from winter-plumaged murres,
and in flight the lack of a white, which is strong
and usually quite high above the surface of the sea,
the reddish feet are also conspicuous, while the
dusky flanks and under wing might be seen, although
the bird beats its wings so fast that no more than a
fleeting impression of the underwing colour may be
gained. Indeed, its short, rounded wings and large
head may invite confusion with one of the smaller
auklets of murrelets.
On the water Horned Puffin swims high and
buoyantly, and when fishing it normally jumps clear
of the water's surface before diving, rather like a
shag. A gregarious species, it is often found in the
large numbers throughout the year. It feeds largely
on small fish, which may be brought back to the nest
neatly stacked crosswise in the bill, just like an
Atlantic Puffin.
Birds arrive in the breeding colonies from
mid-May onwards, depending on the date the ice
melts. They breed in holes and crevices in
cliff-faces and amongst boulders on rocky islands,
only more rarely using burrows in the ground, which
are the common nest sites of their Atlantic cousins.
The single egg is laid in June or July, and is dull
white, faintly marked with purplish-grey, buff or
olive. It is placed on the ground, on a simple mat
or grasses, stick or small stones. Both sexes take
part in incubation, and are courageous in defence of
the nest, being able to inflict a good nip on any
intruder with their large bill. They are aggressive
towards each other. Breeding birds have a whistling
call, as well as a variety of low growling or
grunting calls. The young vacate the nest before
being able to fly, leaving under the supervision of
the parents, even to the extent of the adult
catching the chick by the wing and flying with it in
a shallow dive to the water.
The centre of gravity of the population shifts
southwards in the winter, with post-breeding
dispersal beginning in September. Birds are then
found from the Aleutians and the Bering Seas south
to Japan and British Columbia, and, more rarely, to
southern California and even Baja California. There
are also records from Hawaii. In the winter,
however, it is largely pelagic, only infrequently
being seen from land. Indeed, it is more likely to
occur on the West Coast, in late spring and summer,
when non-breeders may be found south to southern
California and north to Wrangel Island, often around
the breeding colonies of other species of auk.
Vagrants have been recorded in Mackenzie in northern
Canada, and inland in Washington State.
[Puffins]
[Atlantic]
[Tufted]
[Horned]
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