Horned Puffin

The Horned Puffin is a striking North Pacific seabird closely resembling the Atlantic Puffin in its black-and-white pattern, but distinguished by a fleshy, dark "horn" of skin projecting above each eye during the breeding season, from which it gets its name. The bill is broad, flattened, and vividly colored in shades of orange and yellow, and the clean white face and underparts contrast sharply with glossy black upperparts.

A classic seabird of Alaska's rugged coastline and the Bering Sea, the Horned Puffin nests in rocky crevices rather than the burrows favored by some other puffins, often sharing cliffs with murres and kittiwakes.

Key field marks

• Black upperparts and white underparts, similar to Atlantic Puffin
• Small, fleshy dark "horn" of skin above each eye in breeding adults
• Large, laterally flattened bill in orange and yellow tones
• Yellow-orange legs and feet

Similar species

• Tufted Puffin shares its range but is entirely dark-bodied with long golden tufts rather than a white belly.
• Atlantic Puffin is very similar in pattern but does not overlap in range and lacks the distinctive eye "horn."
• Non-breeding birds lose the ornamental horn and have duller, smaller bills, appearing plainer overall.

Horned Puffins breed on rocky cliffs and boulder-strewn slopes around the North Pacific and Bering Sea, including coastal Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, and the Russian Far East, nesting in natural rock crevices rather than excavated burrows. They favor rugged, cliff-lined coastlines and offshore islands close to productive cold-water feeding grounds.

Outside the breeding season, Horned Puffins disperse widely over the open North Pacific, wintering far from land, and return to traditional colonies each spring to breed.

Behavior

Horned Puffins are skilled underwater swimmers, using their wings for propulsion as they chase small fish, often diving in cold, nutrient-rich coastal waters near their breeding cliffs.

Voice

A low, growling call is given at nest crevices; the species is otherwise mostly silent away from the colony.

Feeding

Small schooling fish such as capelin and sand lance, along with various invertebrates, are captured underwater and carried back to chicks crosswise in the bill.

Nesting and breeding

Pairs nest in rock crevices or under boulders on cliffs, laying a single egg; both parents share incubation and feeding duties, and the chick eventually fledges and makes its own way to sea.