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Genus Synthliboramphus
Ancient Murrelet - These birds breed in colonies, their two eggs are laid in burrows excavated in forest soil among tree roots, under logs or in grass tussocks, occasionally in rock crevices. These small auks arrive at and depart from their nesting grounds at night, presumably to reduce predation, and perhaps for the same reason the young are never fed at the nest, being taken to sea 1-3 days after hatching. The parents and young recognise one another by call and after the chicks have run from the burrow to the sea, they locate their parents by call and the entire family swims immediately out at sea. The family continues to move away from land for at least twelve hours. After that, the young are fed exclusively at sea by their parents for more than a month.
Craveri's Murrelet - The Craveri’s Murrelet is a small black and white auk with a small head and thin sharp bill. It resembles the closely related Xantus's Murrelet, with which it shares the distinction of being the most southerly living of all the auk species. The Craveri’s Murrelet has a partial neck collar , and dusky underwings . Craver’s black face mask dips a bit further down the face compared to the Xantus’s. Both species can be also separated by voice.
Xantus's Murrelet - The species is named for the Hungarian ornithologist John Xantus de Vesey who described it from specimens collected off Baja California.
Crested Murrelet - Breeding sites are crevices, burrows and hollows in rocks, the gaps in piles of stones, and among grasses on uninhabited islands. The northern limit of the breeding sites are the Nanatsujima Islands of Japan, while the most important breeding sites are Biro Island and the Izu Islands.