The parakeet auklet (''Aethia psittacula'') is a small

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adaptation, adapted to life within the marine ecosystem, marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent ...

of the

North Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

. Parakeet Auklets used to be placed on its own in the genus ''Cyclorrhynchus'' ( Kaup, 1829) but recent morphological and genetic evidence suggest it should be placed in the genus ''Aethia'', making them closely related to

crested auklet 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. ...

s and

least auklet The least auklet (''Aethia pusilla'') is a seabird and the smallest species of auk. It is the most abundant seabird in North America, and one of the most abundant in the world, with a population of around nine million birds. They breed on the isl ...

s. It is associated with the

boreal Boreal, northern, of the north. Derived from the name of the god of the north wind from Ancient Greek civilisation, Boreas (god), Boreas. It may also refer to: Climatology and geography *Boreal (age), the first climatic phase of the Blytt-Sernand ...

waters of

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

Kamchatka The Kamchatka Peninsula (, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and western coastlines, respectively. Immediately offshore along the Pacific ...

and

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

. It breeds on the cliffs, slopes and boulder fields of offshore islands, generally moving south during the winter.

Description

The parakeet auklet is a small (23 cm)

auk Auks or alcids are birds of the family Alcidae in the order Charadriiformes. The alcid family includes the Uria, murres, guillemots, Aethia, auklets, puffins, and Brachyramphus, murrelets. The family contains 25 extant or recently extinct speci ...

with a short orange bill that is upturned to give the bird its curious fixed expression. The upward bend of the beak has been observed to provide advantages in picking up small food pieces from the sea bottom as well as in assisting in the disintegration of larger food objects. The bird's

plumage Plumage () is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, there can b ...

is dark above and white below. with a single white plume projecting back from the eye. There is a small amount of variation between breeding and winter plumage. The parakeet auklet is a highly vocal species at the nest, calling once it arrives at the nest and then duetting once its mate arrives. It makes a series of rhythmic hoarse calls (like that of the

Cassin's auklet Cassin's auklet (''Ptychoramphus aleuticus'') is a small, chunky seabird that ranges widely in the North Pacific. It is the only species placed in the genus ''Ptychoramphus''. It nests in small burrows and because of its presence on well studied ...

) and a quavering squeal. The function of these are unknown, but could be associated with defending its burrow from intruders and strengthening the bond with its mate.

Taxonomy

The Parakeet Auklet was formerly included in the genus Cyclorrhynchus, avians with a nearly circular profile of the bill. But following recent phylogenetic study, this species could be closer to the Crested Auklet, Least Auklet and Whiskered Auklet.

Behaviour and breeding

The parakeet auklet's food varies with season, during the breeding season it takes mostly small

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms that drift in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) but are unable to actively propel themselves against ocean current, currents (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are ca ...

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

s such as

euphausiid Krill ''(Euphausiids)'' (: krill) are small and exclusively marine crustaceans of the order Euphausiacea, found in all of the world's oceans. The name "krill" comes from the Norwegian word ', meaning "small fry of fish", which is also often a ...

copepod Copepods (; meaning 'oar-feet') are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (living in the water column), some are benthos, benthic (living on the sedimen ...

s and

amphipod Amphipoda () is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods () range in size from and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more than 10,700 amphipod species cur ...

s. Recent research shows it also preys on

jellyfish Jellyfish, also known as sea jellies or simply jellies, are the #Life cycle, medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, which is a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animal ...

in some areas. It often feeds at a considerable distance from the colony, diving up to 30 m to reach its

prey Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not ki ...

. Breeding begins in April and May in colonies that are often shared with other auk species. Their eggs are laid in the crevices of the cliff, often several feet in and by a crooked path so that it is impossible to reach them. The pair lay one egg, which is incubated for just over a month, the chick is then fed 4 times a day for around 35 days. The chick

fledge Fledging is the stage in a flying animal's life between egg, hatching or birth and becoming capable of flight. This term is most frequently applied to birds, but is also used for bats. For altricial birds, those that spend more time in vulnera ...

s at night, flying out to sea alone.

Relationship with humans

The parakeet auklet has little contact with humans despite its large population, this is largely due to their remote breeding and wintering. However, the parakeet auklet still faces issues caused by marine pollution and ingestion of small plastics.

Status and conservation

Parakeet auklet on the Pribilof Islands by Michael Johns USFWS

The parakeet auklet is not considered threatened, there are estimated to be over a million individuals in the North Pacific. It is not thought to have declined recently, but may be threatened in the future by introduced predators and

oil spill An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into th ...

References

* Collinson, Martin. 2006.
Splitting headaches? Recent taxonomic changes affecting the British and Western Palaearctic lists
' British Birds 99: 306-323. * del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. and Ssargatal, J. (eds.) 1996 ''Handbook of the Birds of the World, Vol. 3: Hoatzin to Auks''. Lynx Edicions: Barcelona, Spain. * Harrison, P.. 1983.'' Seabirds, an Identification Guide''. Houghton Mufflin Co.: Boston, USA. 448pp. * "National Geographic" ''Field Guide to the Birds of North'' ''America'' * Sibley, D.A. 2001. ''The Sibley Guide to Birds''. Alfred Knopf: New York, USA. *

External links

Parakeet auklet images
http://tsuru-bird.net/image.htm Copyright 2009 - Monte M. Taylor {{Taxonbar, from=Q1262009

parakeet auklet The parakeet auklet (''Aethia psittacula'') is a small seabird of the North Pacific. Parakeet Auklets used to be placed on its own in the genus ''Cyclorrhynchus'' ( Kaup, 1829) but recent morphological and genetic evidence suggest it should be pl ...

Birds of the Aleutian Islands

Taxa named by Peter Simon Pallas