Rhinoceros auklet

Template:Taxobox begin Template:Taxobox begin placement Template:Taxobox regnum entry Template:Taxobox phylum entry Template:Taxobox classis entry Template:Taxobox ordo entry Template:Taxobox familia entry Template:Taxobox genus entry Template:Taxobox species entry Template:Taxobox end placement Template:Taxobox section binomial parens Template:Taxobox end The Rhinoceros Auklet, Cerorhinca monocerata, is a seabird considered, despite its name, a close relative of the puffins. Its ranges widely across the North Pacific feeding on small fish and nesting in seabird colonies. Its name is dervived from a horn-like extension of the beak.

Description

The Rhinoceros Auklet (also known as the Rhino Auklet or Rhino), is a medium sized auk with a large, strong, orange/brown bill (with the hown protruding from it). The plumage is dark on top, paler below, and the breeding adults possess white plumes above the eyes and behind the bill.

Range and Behaviour

The Rhino Auklet is a North Pacific auk that breeds from California (the Channel Islands) to the Aleutian Islands in Alaska in North America; and Hokkaido and Honshu, Japan, as well as North Korea and Sakhalin Island in Asia. It winters both in offshore and inshore waters, exibiting some migration.

The Rhino Auklet nests in burrows dug into the soil or in natural caves and cavities between 1 to 5 m deep. It prefers nesting sites on slight inclines to aid take-off (as it is a poor flier). A single egg is incubated by both parentrs for 45 days, the semiprecocial chick is then fed each night with abill full of fish (in the manner of puffins) for 50 days. The nocturnal behaviour is believed to be a response to predation and kleptoparasitism by gulls.

At sea Rhino Auklets feed on fish, with some krill and squid taken also. The feed inshore during the breeding season in the midwater.

References

• Gaston, A. J., and S. B. C. Dechesne. 1996. Rhinoceros Auklet (Cerorhinca monocerata). In The Birds of North America, No. 212 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists’ Union, Washington, D.C.