Long-billed Murrelet

Brachyramphus perdix (Pallas, 1811)

Long-billed Murrelet, Brachyramphus perdix, is an auk of the North Pacific, breeding along the temperate coastal belt from Kamchatka and the Sea of Okhotsk to Sakhalin in eastern Russia and northern Hokkaido in Japan. It also nests as far as 30 km inland. In the non-breeding season it moves to coastal Japan, and it is prone to long-distance vagrancy to the continental USA. It is an unusual member of its family and closely resembles the Marbled Murrelet, from which it was once treated as a subspecies.

Order

Charadriiformes

Family

Alcidae — Auks

Breeding range

Palearctic: coastal strip of temperate w North Pacific: Kamchatka, Sea of Okhotsk, Sakhalin (e Russia) and n Hokkaido (n Japan); nests up to 30 km inland

Nonbreeding range

to coastal c Japan; prone to long-distance vagrancy to continental USA