The Tufted Puffin
If there is another contender as the comic of the seabird world, it is surely the Tufted Puffin. In Alaska, it is one of the most abundant of seabirds, with an estimated population of four million birds, and it is certainly very conspicuous. Around the Aleutian Islands the sea may be populated with thousands of Tufted Puffins, against a backdrop of snow-capped islands shrouded in the perpetual mists of the region. Around the colonies the air is full of puffins, flying a few feet above a veritable seabird cry.
The Adult in breeding plumage is unmistakable, been almost entirely black, except for a white face and a bright reddish -orange bill and legs. In detail, the bill has a massive sheath which is largely reddish-orange with the basal third of the upper mandible olive-yellow. The iris is yellow and the eye is surrounded by a red orbital ring. There are a pair of conspicuous, pale-yellow plumes, which sprout from behind the eye and curl down over the back of the head. The sexes are similar.
In winter plumage the bright adornments are shed, the bill becomes slimmer and duller, grey at the base and reddish at the tip. The plumage also becomes duller, the cheeks being heavily washed with grey, the plumes brown and almost vestigial, and the body blackish grey above the brownish grey below. The Juvenile has a smaller bill than the non-breeding adult's, coloured largely yellowish-horn. Its upperparts are dull blackish brown, while the under parts are dirty white, heavily washed brownish grey, with a more distinct dark area on the sides of the breast. It has a dark eye, a dark cap, paler cheeks and a dark bridle from the bill, under the chin to the side of the breast. After the post juvenile moult, the first-year bird remains in a plumage similar to the juvenile's until the spring moult. As in other species of Puffin, each individual takes several years before it reaches the glories of full adult plumage.
At close range the breeding adult is distinguished at all times from the Horned Puffin by its lack of clean white underparts. Out of breeding plumage it may be mistaken for the Rhinoceros Auklet, which is about the same size. Juveniles and especially sub adults invite confusion, as they share a yellowish bill with the Rhinoceros Auklet. However, the bill is a different shape, being much heavier and less pointed, and the Tufted Puffin has a much larger and more bulbous head. In flight, the Tufted Puffin also has more rounded wingtips and rather darker under wings than the Rhinoceros Auklet. In addition, it lacks a white trailing edge to the wing which separates it from the guillemots, while the reddish feet are rather conspicuous. Being a plump species with short wings, it seems to require a good run before it can take off from the water. Once airborne, however, it is a strong flier, keeping high above the waves.
The Tufted Puffin is a North Pacific species. In eastern Asia it breeds from northern Japan northwards through Sakhalin, the Kurile, Commander Islands and the Kamchatka peninsula to the Bering Straits. In western America it breeds in Alaska from the Diomede, Pribilof and Aleutian Islands south along the Pacific coast to central California. In the Aleutians, both birds and eggs were widely eaten by the local people, who used to catch them in flight with large, long-handled nets. The skin were also used to make parkas. Forty-five birds produced a good warm coat when worn with the feathers on the inside.
Birds return to the colonies in April or May and, like the Atlantic Puffin, the Tufted Puffin breeds in burrows in the ground on seaside slopes. Less commonly it uses crevices amongst boulders and piles of rock, or even hides the nest in dense vegetation. The nest itself is an accumulation of grass, leaves and sometimes feathers, on which the single egg is laid in June or July. The egg is dull white, often marked with greys and pale browns. Both male and female incubate the egg over a period of 21 days, and in the south of the range it is reported that two broods are raised. The chick is fed in the burrow until it is fully feathered.
A rather pelagic species, the adult keep well out to sea even in the breeding season, feeding far from shore and occasionally following trawlers or other small fishing boats. They are good divers, feeding on shellfish and small fish.
In the winter is a slight southward shift, with birds being found from Kamchatka Peninsula to the USSR, to southern Japan, and from southern Alaska to central, or even southern, California. They are most common in the north, however, even in winter.
Outside the breeding season, Tufted Puffins seldom come within sight of land unless they are unwell or injured. They also tend to be rather solitary, occurring singly or in pairs. Vagrants have been recorded in Hawaii and Maine.
A Good book to read is SEABIRDS OF THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE, by Alan Richards.
[Puffins] [Atlantic] [Tufted] [Horned]