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Horned Puffin

 
Western Bird Guide: horned puffin


Fratercula corniculata 14½″ (36 cm). A puffin with clear white underparts and a broad black collar. Feet bright orange. Summer: Cheeks white, with a small, dark erectile horn above each eye. Bill massive, triangular, laterally flat; yellow with a red tip. Winter: Cheeks dusky; bill blackish with red tip. Young birds resemble winter adults with dusky cheeks, but the bill is smaller and all dark, lacking red.

Range: N. Pacific (both sides).

Habitat: Ocean, nesting colonially in burrows or crevices on sea cliffs.


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WordNet: horned puffin
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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: N Pacific puffin
  Synonym: Fratercula corniculata


Wikipedia: Horned Puffin
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Horned Puffin
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Alcidae
Genus: Fratercula
Species: F. corniculata
Binomial name
Fratercula corniculata
(Naumann, JF, 1821)

The Horned Puffin (Fratercula corniculata) is an auk, similar in appearance to the Atlantic Puffin; this bird's bill is yellow at the base and red at the tip. It is a pelagic seabird that feeds primarily by diving for fish. It nests in colonies, often with other auks.

The yellow bill plate grows before the breeding season and is shed later. They have a small fleshy black "horn" above their eyes. They have a white face with a dark line extending from the back of the eye and red feet.

This species breeds on rocky islands off the coasts of Siberia, Alaska and British Columbia, in burrows, in rocky cavities or among rocks. It winters far out to sea. Feeding areas are usually located fairly far offshore from the nest. There is usually one chick and both parents feed the young.

Horned Puffins will return from hunting with several small fish in their beaks. They also eat squid and crustaceans.

The population of these birds has declined due to the introduction of rats onto some islands used for nesting.

References

Horned Puffin, Hall Island

External links


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Western Bird Guide. Peterson Field Guide to Western Birds, by Roger Tory Peterson. Copyright © 1990 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Horned Puffin" Read more