Cassin's auklet Ptychoramphus aleuticus

Identification Tips:

• Length: 7 inches
• Sexes similar
• Juvenile is similar to adult, but paler with a white throat
• Pelagic bird only coming ashore to breed
• Small alcid that dives for food from water surface
• Short, dark bill with obscure yellow base
• Dark gray upperparts
• Gray chin, throat, breast, and flanks
• White belly and undertail coverts
• Broken white eyering

Similar species:

The mostly gray neck and breast distinguish the Cassin's Auklet from similarly- sized murrelets. Tufted Puffin and Rhinoceros Auklet are also mostly gray but are easily distinguished by their larger bills and bigger size.

Length and wingspan from: Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds of North America. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc.