THE CRESTED AUKLET 
By CHARLES HASKINS TOWNSEND 
The National Association of Audubon Societies 
Educational Leaflet No. 65 
This is a bird of the far North, frequenting the coasts and islands of 
Bering Sea and the North Pacific Ocean. We first got acquainted with 
the Crested Auklets at the Pribilof Islands, where they abound, and 
afterward saw them in Bering Strait, and above the Arctic Circle at 
Kotzebue Sound. Later on, in the fishery surveys by the steamship 
Albatross, we saw them from Kadiak Island and the Alaska Peninsula 
through the whole Aleutian Archipelago, and beyond 
to the Commander Islands off Kamtschatka. The bird Habitat 
is also found along the Kuril Islands, down as far as 
Japan on the western side of the Pacific. Rich as were our experiences 
with auklets in many of these places, they did not prepare us for what 
we were to see in the Shumagin Islands, south of the Alaska Peninsula. 
On the evening of August i, the Albatross came to anchor in Yukon 
Harbor, at Big Koniushi Island of the Shumagin group. While the ship 
was working her way into this wild and uninhabited bay, everyone noticed 
the increasing numbers of auklets. The farther in we went the more 
numerous they became, until the Captain called me to the bridge to tell 
him what I could about them. 
The birds were nearly all of the crested species, and were present in 
myriads. The surface of the water was covered with them, and the air 
was filled with them. Large, compact flocks launched themselves into 
the air from the lofty cliffs, and careered toward the vessel with great 
speed and whirring of wings. The Crested Auklets were here more 
numerous than were the “Choochkies” (Least Auklets) at St. George, 
in the Pribilofs, celebrated as the center of abundance for that species. 
Twilight did not come until after nine o’clock, and during the long 
evening the birds were amazingly active. Flocks of 
them continued to come in rapid succession from the 
cliffs, many passing close to the ship at high speed 
and swinging about the harbor. After the anchor was dropped near the 
cliffs, a loud blast of the whistle made the auklets still more abundant. 
The bird-legions swept from the cliffs until the misty air and the water 
about the ship was alive with them. It was a memorable ornithological 
display, and when darkness came the birds were still moving actively. 
These birds appeared to be nesting chiefly in crevices in the cliffs, 
although they could be heard under the boulders near the beaches. We 
did not stay long at Yukon Harbor, and I have always wanted to revisit 
the place and get better acquainted with the metropolis of the auklets. 
At the Pribilofs, we found the birds apparently more abundant under 
Amazing 
Numbers 
257 
