Kittlitz's Murrelet - Description and Range

Description and Range

The Kittlitz's Murrelet is, like the Marbled Murrelet, a small compact auk, 25 cm long with tiny legs and cryptic plumage during the breeding season. The colour of the breeding plumage, greyish-brown, reflects its habit of breeding on bare ground near snowfields. In the winter it adopts the black and white plumage typical of many seabirds. Its bill is smaller than that of the Marbled Murrelet.

The Kittlitz's Murrelet mostly breeds and lives in the coastal areas of Alaska, both on the mainland around Prince William Sound, the Kenai Peninsula, sparsely up the west coast and along the Aleutian Islands. It also nests in Siberia and possibly Wrangel Island.

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