{"id":6529,"date":"2017-12-24T11:22:18","date_gmt":"2017-12-24T19:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/larryeifert.com\/?page_id=6529"},"modified":"2017-12-24T11:22:18","modified_gmt":"2017-12-24T19:22:18","slug":"2015-04","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/published-writings-and-art\/salish-sea-stories-48-north-magazine\/2015-04\/","title":{"rendered":"2015 – 9 Rhinoceros Auklet"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Closely related to the Tufted Puffin, another interesting but fairly rare seabird here, the more numerous Rhinoceros Auklet is fun to watch as it swims about with a mouth full of forage fish. That crazy horn grows during breeding season, but drops off in winter. With two light feather tuffs streaming along the head, it\u2019s a fun bird to paint. They nest in burrows, mainly on Protection Island west of Port Townsend with a second large colony on Smith Island, that rock pile and lighthouse west of Whidbey Island. Nest burrows can be twenty feet long and fork several times, leading to a nice little mossy nook with only one chick, fed by both parents and usually at night so the comings-and-goings are safe.<\/p>\n

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Rhinos often feed by diving along tide lines and current channels where small fish such as sandlance and herring congregate. It\u2019s a mystery to me how these birds can catch not just one slippery fish, but often half a dozen. In the Seattle Aquarium, I\u2019ve watched them reach amazing speeds by \u201cflying\u201d underwater using their wings for propulsion. I think they must grab one fish, and with tongue holding it firmly in place, go after another, and another, until there are a pile of fish hanging out of both sides the bill. Now, think of how YOU get your food and eat it, and you\u2019ll admire the skills of this fisher-extraordinaire.<\/p>\n

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Larry Eifert paints and writes about wild places. His work is in many national parks across America \u2013 and at larryeifert.com.<\/p>\n

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Closely related to the Tufted Puffin, another interesting but fairly rare seabird here, the more numerous Rhinoceros Auklet is fun to watch as it swims about with a mouth full of forage fish. That crazy horn grows during breeding season, but drops off in winter. With two light feather tuffs streaming along the head, it\u2019s … Continue reading 2015 – 9 Rhinoceros Auklet<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":6453,"menu_order":81,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6529","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6529"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6645,"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6529\/revisions\/6645"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}