Species: Ptychoramphus aleuticus

Cassin's Auklet
Species

    Articles:

    Declines in marine birds trouble scientists

    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.

    Western grebe. Public Pier, Blaine, WA. Photo: Andrew Reding https://www.flickr.com/photos/seaotter/10298390254
    Kingdom
    Animalia
    Phylum
    Craniata
    Class

    Aves

    Order

    Charadriiformes

    Family

    Alcidae

    Genus

    Ptychoramphus

    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
    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
    NatureServe Global Status Rank
    G4
    Global Status Last Reviewed
    1996-11-27
    Global Status Last Changed
    1996-11-27
    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)
    ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.104487