this is the absolutely stupendous-looking Kittlitz's murrelet. what a critter. what a thing. it's named after the German zoologist Heinrich von Kittlitz, who was the first European zoologist to collect a specimen of one of these things. they breed in Alaska and eastern Russia. a member of the family Alcidae, which also includes puffins; however, very unusually for an alcid - and for a seabird in general, for that matter - they nest inland and largely solitarily, in stark contrast to the vast seaside colonies of its relatives.
here, their plumage turns from black-and-white to a mottled grey-brown, which is a pattern opposed to some more familiar seasonally changing birds - rather than being for display, their more striking plumage serves as camouflage while at sea! their environment changes radically, and their cryptic coloration changes alongside it. the dark backs and light bellies common in marine life is akin to the mottled browns of terrestrial animals - viewed from below, their white fronts blend in with the sunlight from above, and viewed from below, their black backs blend in with the dark water below. inland, they highly prefer sheer mountains and areas with glaciers, fishing in their meltwater. their diet consists of small fish and large zooplankton.
allegedly, the far inland scrape nests they form, while well known to Indigenous peoples in the birds' range, were met with widespread skepticism by European naturalists before their eventual documentation. what exactly they do during the winter is hard to say, as they likely move nomadically through the sea, and they're very small birds indeed. their nests and silly downy puffball chicks are much more reliably found.
18 July 2026
