The Pacific equivalent of the last species, not as abundant but due to action taken to reduce bycatch in fisheries it is not in decline. The bill is
larger and plainer looking, plus the black mark above the eye is more pronounced, this is presumably where the name comes from. 85% of colonies are in North America, from Alaska throughtout the Aleutians,
but birds do occur on the Kurils, Sakhalin and the coast of Siberia. Again pelagic away from the breeding colonies, dispersal is somewhat further than Atlantic Puffins in a southerly direction, reaching Japan.
Taken Kamchatka June 1993
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