The parakeet auklet is a small, chubby seabird about 9-10 inches (23-25.4 cm) tall.
It has dark black feathers on its head and back, a white throat and chest, and a white plume behind its yellow eyes. It has a distinctive bright red bill. In summer, its eye plume may disappear. Males and females look the same.
The parakeet auklet nests on island coasts and cliffs.
The parakeet auklet dives for krill. Sometimes it eats small fish.
The female parakeet auklet usually lays just one egg in a cliff crevice or among boulders. The egg hatches in about a month. The chick fledges in just a little over a month.
Unlike other auklets, the parakeet auklet doesn’t nest in large colonies. One parakeet auklet sits on a cliff ledge near its nest and watches for danger, while the other auklet incubates the egg or tends to the chick.
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In North America, the parakeet auklet lives and breeds on islands and cliffs off the coast of Alaska. It winters in the waters off the coast of Alaska.
It is also found in waters off Asia.
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