WatchList > View WatchList Photo by Ian L. Jones, US Geological
Survey. One of the rarest of the alcids in the U.S. (only the
Kittlitz's, Craveri's, and Xantus Murrelets have smaller
populations), the Whiskered Auklet breeds and winters largely in
the remote Aleutian Islands of Alaska. A slaty, robin-sized
alcid of the Aleutian Islands, Whiskered Auklet is best told
from other similar looking species by its elongate white and
black plumes of feathers on its head. Its bill is short and
orange and its eye is yellow. Young birds are very drab and lack
the ornate feather plumes and orange bill of the adult. Breeds
on Alaska's Aleutian Islands, where it is thought to nest on no
more than 10 islands, and Asia's Commander Is. south to Kurile
Is. It is also observed in the Sea of Okhotsk. Aleutian birds
spend the winter in waters near nesting islands. Some Asian
birds move further south to spend winters near Japan. There is
no information regarding population trends of Whiskered Auklet.
Little is known of this specie