It is all too simple to recognize the puffin, right? Distinct in shape and colorful beak.

Let’s look beyond the colorful beak and try to identify the puffin as a member of the Auk family. Auks are chubby little seabirds with the white and black patterns we have come to love and recognize in our puffins. Each species in the Auk family has its very own distinct black and white pattern.

When the auks are in the water you often cannot see their entire bodies. Often you cannot even see their beak very well with them diving and plunging so far from the shore. Let’s pay attention to the different patterns in the black and white on the Auks and learn to recognize the Puffin within some common Auks.

• The Black Guillemot is mostly black with a little white streak—it has a completely black head and beak.
• The Atlantic Puffin is black around the neck and in a slight cap with a white face and a colorful beak.
• The Razorbill is black on the back except one line of white in the wings and white in the front like the puffin but it has a completely black face except one white streak along its beak—going down its bill from its eye and a white ring around the bill.
• The Ancient Murrelet has a dark grayish black back and a mostly black head but the white comes up higher onto its neck and the tip of its dark beak is light.

Now, maybe we can help others identify the puffins, a few auks and we’ve learned something new.

OK! Now you have an assignment—do a google image search and identify the Auks. =) Write (in the form below) and tell me what you learned or thought.

References

Podulka, Sandy, Ronald W. Rohrbaugh, Jr., and Rick Bonney, Editors. Handbook of Bird Biology. 2nd edition. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 2004.

Beaks, bills, bird noses—whatever you wish to call them—they are important to every bird.¹ They are full of live tissues, regenerating after billing (a puffin’s form of kissing / affection where they rub bills together), bill-wiping (to clean their bills—typically on rocks or hard surfaces), eating, and defending their young.  The tips of bird beaks grow constantly due to continual wear and tear. Some bird’s beaks even grow longer according to the season. The beak of the Puffin is one example of seasonal change. While it does not change in size, it changes in color. Puffins molt the the colorful outer sheath of their bills after breeding (seasonally).  Their beaks brighten or fade in color when the old skin is worn down and the new layers are revealed depending on which season it happens to be. Maybe they do not need the extra attention they receive with their bright colorful beaks after they have wooed their loves and mated for the season. Perhaps it becomes a liability—making them more susceptible to predators.

Nares (nostrils) are often on the upper part of the beak. These can vary depending on the bird and its needs. For example, some birds have a protective flap, the operculum, covering part of the nostrils. This is helpful in keeping debris out.² To each bird their own beak.

Most birds have black beaks and bills. There are some birds who have colorful beaks such as the Common Merganser, the Ruddy Duck or the choughs from the Corvid Family of birds. Besides the Toucan, no other birds compare to the magnificently colorful beaked Puffins.

Beak of the Puffin

References

Podulka, Sandy, Ronald W. Rohrbaugh, Jr., and Rick Bonney, Editors. Handbook of Bird Biology. 2nd edition. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 2004.

1. FYI: The visible portion of the bill is called the rhamphotheca. The bill actually does extend inside the face. [↩]
2. Podulka, Sandy, Ronald W. Rohrbaugh, Jr., and Rick Bonney, Editors. Handbook of Bird Biology. 2nd edition. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 2004. [↩]