Crested Auklet
Aethia cristatella
- Family
- Auks, Puffins, and Murres (Alcidae)
- Order
- Charadriiformes
Overview
The crested auklet (Aethia cristatella) is a small seabird of the family Alcidae, distributed throughout the northern Pacific and the Bering Sea. The species feeds by diving in deep waters, eating krill and a variety of small marine animals. It nests in dense colonies of up to 1 million individuals in the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk. It often breeds in mixed-species colonies with the least auklet, a smaller congener.
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Range and habitat
Breeds North Pacific coasts and islands, patchily from eastern Chukotka, Sakhalin, Kuril, and Commander islands (eastern Russia), Bering Sea and Aleutian islands; winters offshore to Hokkaido and northern Honshu (northern Japan) and Gulf of Alaska.
Range description: AviList Global Avian Checklist.
Continents
Countries
Sources and further reading
- Wikipedia: Crested auklet
- eBird: sightings, maps and photos
- xeno-canto: sound recordings
- Birds of the World: full species account (subscription)
- BirdLife DataZone: status and threats
- IUCN Red List (threat status)
- AviList global checklist (taxonomy)
Last updated September 29, 2026.
