PAL, NA (temperate North Pacific coasts: off Sakhalin and Kuril Is. (se Russia), Hokkaido and n Honshu (n Japan), Aleutian Is., s, se Alaska to s California)
IOC non-breeding range
to s Japan, Korean Pen. (w North Pacific) and n Baja California (e North Pacific)
Identification
A plump, short-winged, big-billed seabird, the only living species of its genus and a close relative of the puffins, for which the name rhinoceros puffin has been proposed. The name comes from the horn-like extension at the base of the bill in breeding adults, present only in the breeding season; white plumes run back from the eye and the gape, the upperparts are dark grey, the underparts pale grey to white, the bill orange-yellow. It eats mainly small fish, also invertebrates. Monogamous, with pair bonds lasting years.
Habitat
Cold North Pacific coasts, nesting in burrows on vegetated islands and returning at night to feed the chicks; offshore and inshore waters outside the breeding season.
Distribution
Breeds on both sides of the North Pacific: Sakhalin, the Kurils, Hokkaido and northern Honshu and Korea on the Asian side, and from the Aleutians and Alaska to California's Channel Islands on the American side; winters south to southern Japan and Korea. Teuri Island off Hokkaido holds one of the world's largest colonies. Absent from China and Singapore.
Season and behaviour
Breeds in northern Japan from April to August; at Teuri from May to July thousands return at dusk with fish; seen off Japan in winter. A very numerous species of least concern.
Photography tips
These are the FilmAnalysis editors' notes, not content from the sources.
The dusk return to Teuri is the classic: hundreds of thousands flying in through the twilight, with high ISO, 1/1600 s and continuous focus for a bird carrying a row of fish, and a wide lens for the sky full of them. By day only birds on the water from a boat. The burrow slopes are closed to walking, so stay on the viewing paths.
Field ethics: keep a distance at which the bird does not change its behaviour; never approach or publish nest sites; no baiting, playback or flash; never clear vegetation around a nest; follow reserve rules and stay on paths.
Photographic styles
Silhouettes of flocks returning at dusk; a small bird on a grey sea.
Similar species
Horned and tufted puffins (bigger redder bills, white faces, plumes when breeding); ancient murrelet (smaller, small bill).
Related badge
None yet. No validated photo recognition exists for this species, so no badge is tied to it: a name in the encyclopedia is not evidence in a photograph.
The illustration is original FilmAnalysis artwork. No photographs yet: only photos cleared for commercial use with credit will be added.
