Horned Puffin

Horned Puffin (Fratercula corniculata) is a black-and-white North Pacific puffin with a large colourful bill and a small dark horn above each eye. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct field comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It dives for fish and nests in rock crevices or burrows on coastal cliffs and islands. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. Japanese records place it within the country's documented avifauna as a resident, migrant or visitor (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Japan occurrence records).