Tufted Puffin, Fratercula cirrhata
The Tufted Puffin is famous for the spectacular large orange bill which it shares with other puffin species, leading to the common nickname "sea parrot" for these birds. The white face and yellow plumes mark the breeding plumage; the head is plain dark gray during the non-breeding season, when puffins live at sea and are rarely seen. A hundred or so pairs of Tufted Puffins nest on Southeast Farallon Island, in the Pacific Ocean west of San Franciso, the southernmost nesting colony for this bird of the northern ocean. Below, Tufted Puffins roosting on the island cliffs, where they nest in crevices in the rocks. On my visit to the Farallons at the end of July 2011 the birds could readily be seen on the water as above, on the cliffs as below, and flying overhead.
