Japanese Murrelet

Synthliboramphus wumizusume (Temminck, 1836)

Japanese Murrelet, Synthliboramphus wumizusume, is an auk of the north-west Pacific, breeding on islands off western Honshu, Kyushu and the Izu Islands, with further breeding records south of the Korean Peninsula and possibly in far south-east Russia. Outside the breeding season it ranges north to Hokkaido and also appears in south-east Japan. It is a small seabird and can be told from the Ancient Murrelet by its black crest in summer. Its breeding sites are on small rocky islets and coasts, where it nests in crevices, hollows and stone gaps.

Order

Charadriiformes

Family

Alcidae — Auks

Breeding range

Palearctic: w North Pacific coasts: islands off w Honshu, Kyushu and Izu Is. (c, s Japan), s of Korean Pen. and ?far se Russia

Nonbreeding range

to Hokkaido (n of Japan) and se of Japan