Tufted Puffin Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  A stocky, football-sized seabird with a very short neck, large head, broad wings, enormous bill (especially during the breeding season) that is laterally flattened, short tail, rather short legs, and large, webbed feet.

  Relative Size

  Larger than a Horned Grebe, smaller than a Common Murre.

  crow-sized

  Measurements

  • Both Sexes
  • • Length: 14.2-15.8 in (36-40 cm)
    • Weight: 18.3-35.3 oz (520-1000 g)

  © Matt Brady / Macaulay Library

• Color Pattern

  Adults in breeding plumage are blackish, with a white mask, long yellow plumes that extend from eye to nape, and orange-and-yellow bill. Adults in nonbreeding plumage are paler sooty gray, and the bill becomes smaller with a grayish base, with only a trace of yellow remaining behind the eye. Immature similar to nonbreeding adult but with smaller, all-gray bill.

• Behavior

  Tufted Puffins forage by "flying” underwater, using their wings like fins to chase prey, which it grasps with the bill and consumes underwater. Usually forages solitarily for most of the year, though may concentrate where prey is abundant or near the breeding grounds.
• Habitat

  Nests in burrows on grassy cliffs by the sea in North Pacific, often on offshore islands. Most of the year, Tufted Puffins forage in deep open waters of the central North Pacific, very far from land. During the breeding season occurs in nearshore waters and over the continental shelf.