Family:
The tufted puffin, also known as the crested puffin, is a medium-sized seabird with short wings that is the largest of all the puffins. It has black plumage with a grey face and white facial patch, red-rimmed eyes, and a thick mostly red bill with yellow and green markings.
Just before breeding season begins, it has glossy yellow crests behind the eyes, red feet, and the face turns whiter. After breeding season, the tufts moult off and the beak and legs become duller. Males and females are similar, but the male is slightly larger.
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Tufted puffins eat small fish, squid, and crustaceans. They forage by diving from the surface of the water usually far from the shore. Like other puffins, they can carry large quantities of fish in their bills which they bring back to their chicks inland.
Tufted puffins breed in the far east of Russia, the Aleutians, Alaska, and west California on rocky coastal islands and cliffs with soft soil and grass that are high enough that they can take flight easily. They spend the winter in the Pacific.
