November 18, 2011

The Auklets Were Back

Last night the Cassin's Auklets decided to come back for the night. They are one of the breeders out here but this time of year we don't see them a whole lot, especially on land. On nights that they come back to land you can hear them singing all over the island and if you walk around you find them scattered everywhere, crawling into rock crevices, existing holes in the ground, or start to dig their own.
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They are not the best fliers so they are pretty easy to catch by hand as they stumble around, attempting to hide, but often just flying into things (including humans).
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After catching a few and seeing them fly around a bit you realize how much padding they must have to survive the beating they give them selves every time they make that crash landing into their burrows.
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