Species: Ptychoramphus aleuticus
Cassin's Auklet
Species
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Why did all the grebes leave? Where did they go? And what does their disappearance say about the health of the Salish Sea? Seasonal declines among some regional bird species could hold important clues to the overall health of the ecosystem.
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Aves
Order
Charadriiformes
Family
Alcidae
Genus
Ptychoramphus
NatureServe
Classification
Other Global Common Names
Alcuela Oscura - starique de Cassin
Informal Taxonomy
<p>Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Other Birds</p>
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Charadriiformes - Alcidae - Ptychoramphus
Ecology and Life History
Short General Description
Cassin's Auklet; a small seabird.
Migration
<p>true - true - false</p>
Non-migrant
true
Locally Migrant
true
Food Comments
Dives from surface (maximum diving depth averaged 28 m at Quenn Charlotte Islands, British Columbia). Breeding season diet includes euphausiids, hyperiid amphipods, larval squids, crab megalops, copepods, various larval or small fishes (when invertebrates not readily available), and other invertebrates. Invertebrates 6-30 mm long, fishes 15-45 mm. See Johnsgard (1987.)
Reproduction Comments
Significant annual variation occurs in the timing of the breeding, even at a single site. Clutch size is 1. Incubation, by both sexes, lasts 37-42 days (average 38). Young are tended by both parents, fledge in 5-7 weeks (average 6). Sometimes double-brooded. Yearlings and 2-year-olds do not breed. Often in large colony (100,000s pairs, sometimes several thousand pairs/ha)
Ecology Comments
Adult annual survival rate normally is between 0.8 and 0.9 (see Condor 94:1019-1021). Significant predators in various areas include arctic fox, rat, western gull.
Length
23
Weight
188
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G4
Global Status Last Reviewed
1996-11-27
Global Status Last Changed
1996-11-27
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
<img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?CA.BC=S2&US.AK=S4&US.CA=S3&US.OR=S2&US.WA=S3" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
Global Range
G - 200,000-2,500,000 square km (about 80,000-1,000,000 square miles) - G - BREEDS: locally on coastal islands from southern Alaska (Aleutian Islands) south to southern Baja California. Most (80%) of the population breeds along the coast of British Columbia. WINTERS: along the Pacific coast from southern British Columbia, rarely from southern Alaska, south to southern Baja California. One of the most abundant and widely distributed small alcids off the Pacific coast (Terres 1980). Casual in Washington and Oregon (AOU 1983).
Global Range Code
G
Global Range Description
200,000-2,500,000 square km (about 80,000-1,000,000 square miles)