Horned Puffin

Overview

Horned Puffin: Medium puffin with black upperparts, white underparts. White face with a black, fleshy horn above eye extending to top of head. Bill is triangular and massive during summer, when it is bright yellow with orange tip. Strong direct flight on rapid wing beats, often high over the water.

Range and Habitat

Horned Puffin: Breeds from northern Alaska south to the British Columbia border. Spends winters at sea south to Washington; rarely to California. Preferred habitats include cold ocean waters, sea cliffs, and rocky or grass-covered islets and rocks.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Horned Puffin can fly, but it spends more time in the water as it is a better swimmer.
The birds winter over a broad area of the central North Pacific, generally over deep oceanic waters.
A group of puffins has many collective nouns, including a "burrow", "circus", "colony", "improbability", and "puffinry" of puffins.

The Horned Puffin is currently rated as Least Concern. This bird species has a range and population that are sufficient and stable enough at this point for there to be no concern regarding possible decline. The Horned Puffin is native to Japan, Canada, Russia and the United States. The range of the Horned Puffin is estimated to be as much as 1 million square kilometers while the population of this bird species is around 800,000 individuals. The prior rating for the Horned Puffin was Lower Risk, which was downgraded to Least Concern in 2004.