Editing Tufted puffin (section)

== Distribution and habitat ==
Tufted puffins form dense [[Bird colony|breeding colonies]] during the summer reproductive season from [[Washington state]] and [[British Columbia]], throughout southeastern [[Alaska]] and the [[Aleutian Islands]], [[Kamchatka]], the [[Kuril Islands]] and throughout the [[Sea of Okhotsk]].<ref name="Burkanov">{{cite book|last1= Artyukhin|first1=Yu.B.|last2= Burkanov|first2= V.N.|year= 1999|title= Morskiye ptitsy i mlekopitayushchiye Dalnego Vostoka Rossii|trans-title= Sea birds and mammals of the Russian Far East: A Field Guide|location= Moscow |publisher= АSТ Publishing|page= 215|language= ru}}</ref> While they share some habitat with [[horned puffins]] (''F. corniculata''), the range of the tufted puffin is generally more eastern. They have been known to nest in small numbers as far south as the [[Channel Islands (California)|northern Channel Islands]], off the coast of [[southern California]].<ref name="McChesney et al">{{ cite journal |author1=McChesney, G. J. |author2=Carter, H. R. |author3=Whitworth, D. L. | year = 1995 | title = Reoccupation and Extension of Southern Breeding Limits of Tufted Puffins and Rhinoceros Auklets in California |journal=Colonial Waterbirds|volume=18|issue=1|pages=79–90| publisher = Waterbird Society |doi=10.2307/1521401 |jstor=1521401}}</ref> However, the last confirmed sighting at the Channel Islands occurred in 1997.<ref name="McChesney and Carter">{{ cite book |author1=McChesney, G. J. |author2=Carter, H. R. | year = 2008 | title = Studies of Western Birds | volume = 1 | pages = 213–217 }}</ref>

Tufted puffins typically select [[island]]s or cliffs that are relatively inaccessible to [[predator]]s, close to productive waters, and high enough that they can take to the air successfully. Ideal habitat is steep but with a relatively soft soil substrate and [[grass]] for the creation of [[burrow]]s.<ref name="Stirling">{{ cite web | author = Stirling, K. | year = 2000 | title = ''Fratercula cirrhata'' | work = Animal Diversity Web | publisher = University of Michigan Museum of Zoology | access-date = 2012-08-22 | url = http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Fratercula_cirrhata.html }}</ref>

During the winter feeding season, they spend their time almost exclusively at sea, extending their [[range (biology)|range]] throughout the North Pacific and south to [[Japan]] and [[California]].