Crested Auklet

Crested Auklet
Crested Auklet
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Alcidae
Genus: Aethia
Species: A. cristatella
Binomial name
Aethia cristatella
(Pallas, 1769)

The Crested Auklet (Aethia cristatella) is a small seabird of the family Alcidae which nests in huge colonies (>1 million individuals) in the Bering Sea and Sea of Okhotsk. They often breed in mixed-species colonies with Least Auklets, their smaller congener.

The Crested Auklet can measure 18–27 cm (7.1–11 in) in length, 34–50 cm (13–20 in) in wingspan and weigh 195–330 g (6.9–12 oz).[2] It is recognized primarily by two characters in the breeding season. The first is its 'crest', a group of bristle feathers located above its eye on the top of its head. The second is a social odor that the auklets produce during the breeding season, which has been described as smelling like tangerines.

Crested Auklets are planktivores. Their diet consists mainly of krill, but they are also known to eat copepods, pteropods (such as Limacina), amphipods and larval fishes. Their main predators are Herring Gulls[disambiguation needed ] and other gulls, Arctic Fox and ravens, but they have been reported in the stomachs of halibut caught on St. Lawrence Island.

References

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2008). Aethia cristatella. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 24 February 2009.
  2. ^ CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses by John B. Dunning Jr. (Editor). CRC Press (1992), ISBN 978-0849342585.

External links


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • crested auklet — noun or crested auk : an auklet (Aethia cristatella) with a recurved frontal crest * * * crested auklet, a small auk of the North Pacific and Bering Sea areas …   Useful english dictionary

  • crested auklet — kuoduotoji alkelė statusas T sritis zoologija | vardynas atitikmenys: lot. Aethia cristatella angl. crested auklet vok. Schopfalk, m rus. большая конюга, f pranc. starique cristatelle, m ryšiai: platesnis terminas – alkelės …   Paukščių pavadinimų žodynas

  • crested auklet. — See under auklet. * * * …   Universalium

  • crested auklet. — See under auklet …   Useful english dictionary

  • auklet — /awk lit/, n. any of several small auks of the coasts of the North Pacific, as Aethia cristatella (crested auklet), having a crest of recurved plumes. [1885 90; AUK + LET] * * * ▪ bird also called  Sea Sparrow,    any of six species of small… …   Universalium

  • auklet — /ˈɔklət/ (say awkluht) noun any of various small seabirds found in northern Pacific waters, as the crested auklet, Aethia cristatella, and its allies. {auk + let} …  

  • crested auk — noun see crested auklet …   Useful english dictionary

  • Least Auklet — Taxobox name = Least Auklet status = LC | status system = IUCN3.1 image width = 200px regnum = Animalia phylum = Chordata classis = Aves ordo = Charadriiformes familia = Alcidae genus = Aethia species = A. pusilla binomial = Aethia pusilla… …   Wikipedia

  • snub-nosed auklet — noun : crested auklet …   Useful english dictionary

  • Aethia — Taxobox name = Aethia image width = 200px image caption = Aethia pygmaea regnum = Animalia phylum = Chordata classis = Aves ordo = Charadriiformes familia = Alcidae genus = Aethia genus authority = Merrem, 1788 subdivision ranks = Species… …   Wikipedia

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