Kittlitz's Murrelet

Brachyramphus brevirostris (Vigors, 1829)

Kittlitz's Murrelet, Brachyramphus brevirostris, breeds across the Arctic to subarctic coasts of the north-western to north-eastern North Pacific, from Wrangel Island, Chukotka, north-east Kamchatka and the northern Sea of Okhotsk to the Bering Sea, the Aleutian Islands, the Gulf of Alaska and south-east Alaska. It also nests up to 75 km inland. Outside the breeding season it moves to bays and fjords within that same broad range. A member of the auk family, it is a small alcid and is not colonial, with nesting sites set apart rather than in groups.

Order

Charadriiformes

Family

Alcidae — Auks

Breeding range

Palearctic, North America: Arctic to subarctic nw to ne North Pacific coasts: patchily from Wrangel I. (n of ne Siberia), Chukotka, ne Kamchatka, n Sea of Okhotsk (e Russia); Bering Sea and Aleutian Is., Gulf of Alaska to se Alaska; nests up to 75 km inland

Nonbreeding range

to bays and fjords within breeding range