GULLS and Allies of North America
Gulls, terns, skimmers, skuas, puffins, and their allies belong to the order Charadriiformes and suborder Lari. In general they take food from the sea. Charadriiformes also contains the sandpipers, plovers and their allies. They are in suborder Charadrii and often feed along the shoreline. It is a matter of debate whether the coursers and pratincoles belong with the gulls or with the sandpipers.
Auks
Order Charadriiformes Suborder Lari Family Alcidae
Auks and their allies (auklets, guillemots, razorbills, puffins) are superficially similar to penguins due to their black-and-white colours, their upright posture and some of their habits. Nevertheless they are not closely related to penguins. Their closest living relatives appear to be the skuas, Auks have to a large extent sacrificed flight, and also mobility on land, in exchange for swimming; their wings are a compromise between the best possible design for diving and the bare minimum needed for flying. The auks are restricted to cooler northern waters. Their ability to spread further south is restricted by their prey hunting method, pursuit diving. This becomes less efficient in warmer waters. The speed at which small fish can swim doubles as the temperature increases from 5°C to 15°C, with no corresponding increase in speed for the bird. Auks live on the open sea and only go ashore for breeding. They vary from 15-45 cm. [abstracted from Wikipedia]
Genus Aethia
Auklet, Crested Aethia cristatella Found: North America
Photographed byAlan D. Wilson- Zapadni Cliffs, St. Paul Island, Alaska
Auklet, Least Aethia pusilla Found: North America
Photographed by Alan D. Wilson - Zapadni Breakwater, St. Paul Island, Alaska
Auklet, Parakeet Aethia psittacula Found: North America
Photographed by Alan D. Wilson - St. Paul Island, Alaska
Auklet, Whiskered Aethia pygmaea Found: North America and Asia (Aleutian Islands and some islands off Siberia)
Photographed by: 1) L. Lauber, USFWS 2) USFWS
Genus Alle
Auk, Little aka Dovekie Alle Alle Found: Arctic region including North America
Photographed by: 1) MPF 2) Alastair Rae
Genus Brachyramphus
Murrelet, Kittliz's Brachyramphus brevirostris Found: North America, Asia
Photographed by: Doed
1) Breeding
Murrelet, Marbled Brachyramphus marmoratus Found: North America, Asia
Photographed by: 1) Rich Macintosh, USFWS 2) Andrew Reding - state of Washington 3) Gus Van Vliet, USFWS 4) USFWS
1) Juvenile 2) Nonbreeding 3) Nonbreeding, eclipse 4) Breeding
Genus Cepphus
Guillemot, Black Cepphus grylle Found: North America (East coast, down to Maine), NW coast of Europe
Photographed by: 1) Dick Daniels - Scotland 2) Dick - Scotland 3) oskaree - iceland 4) Ómar Runólfsson - Iceland
1, 2) Breeding 3) Nonbreeding 4) 1st winter
Guillemot, Pigeon Cepphus columba Found: North America, Asia
Photographed by: 1, 6) Dick Daniels - Alaska Sea Life Center in Seward 2) Dick - Alaska Sea Life Center
3, 4) Dick - Kachemak Bay, Alaska 5) Alan Vernon 7) Schlawe of the USFWS 8) Maggie Smith - California
8) Juvenile
Genus Cerorhinca - 1 species
Auklet, Rhinoceros Cerorhinca monocerata Found: North America, Asia
Photographed by: 1, 4) Dick Daniels - Alaska Sea Life Center in Seward 2, 3) Dick Daniels - Alaska Sea Life Center in Seward
Genus Ptychoramphus - 1 species
Auklet, Cassin’s Ptychoramphus aleuticus Found: North Pacific including North America
Photographed by: 1) Sabrine's Sunbird - Farallon Islands 2) Ducan Wright - Farallon Islands
Genus Synthliboramphus
Murrelet, Ancient Synthliboramphus antiquus Found: North America, Asia
Photographed by: USFWS
1) Breeding
Murrelet, Xantus's Synthliboramphus hypoleucus Found: west coast of North America
Photographed by: 1) Stonebird - California 2) Arthur Chapman - specimen
Genus Uria
Guillemot, Common aka Guillemot aka Common Murre Uria aalge Found: north parts of North America, Europe, Asia, Africa
The Common Murre and Thick-billed Murre are similar in appearance. The Common Murre may be brindled, not so for the Thick-billed Murre. The Thick-billed Murre has a white gape stripe, the Common Murre never does.
4) Dick - Gull Island, Kachemak Bay, Alaska 5, 6, 7, 8) Dick - Scotland
1) Family 2) First year 3) Nonbreeding 5) Brindled variant
Murre, Thick-billed aka Brunnich's Guillemot Uria lomvia Found: North America, Europe, Asia, Africa
The Common Murre and Thick-billed Murre are similar in appearance. The Common Murre may be brindled, not so for the Thick-billed Murre. The Thick-billed Murre has a white gape stripe, the Common Murre never does.
3) Michael Haferkamp - Barentsea, Svalbard 4) US Geoligical Survey
1) Nonbreeding
Genus Fratercula
Puffin, Atlantic Fratercula arctica Found: North Atlantic regions of North America and Great Britain
Photographed by: 1) Erik Christensen - Mykines, Faroe Islands 2) Matthias Meckel - Farne Islands, England
3) Steve Garvie 4) Dick Daniels - Scotland 5, 6) Dick - Scotland
Puffin, Horned Fratercula corniculata Found: Northwest coasts of North America, northeast coast of Asia
Photographed by: 1, 2, 3) Dick Daniels - Alaska Sea Life Center in Seward 4) Dick - Alaska Sea Life Center
5) Vernon Byrd, US Fish and Wildlife Service 6, 8) Alan D Wilson - St. Paul Island, Alaska
7) Dick - Gull Island, Kachemak Bay, Alaska
1, 2) Juvenile 3) Nonbreeding 4 - 8) Breeding
Puffin, Tufted Fratercula cirrhata Found: Northwest coasts of North America, northeast coast of Asia
Photographed by: 1) Dick Daniels - Gull Island, Kachemak Bay, Alaska 2) Dick - Alaska Sea Life Center in Seward
3) Dick - Gull Island 4, 7) Alan D Wilson - St. Paul Island in Alaska 5) Mike Boylan, USFWS 6) Alan - St. Paul Island
Genus Alca - 1 species
Razorbill Alca torda Found: North Atantic coasts, including those of North America
Photographed by: 1) Dick Daniels - Great Britain 2, 3, 4, 5) Dick - Great Britain
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also present in the Carolinas.
All photos on this site are available for general use. Please credit the photographer. Some images have additional constraints such as no commercial use or no modifications. Click the photo credit link for details. Dick Daniels, webmaster.