Atlantic puffin Medieval Latin "fratercula", friar, a reference to the black and white plumage which resembles monastic robes. The specific name "arctica" refers to the northerly distribution of the bird, being derived from the Greek ἄρκτος ("arktos"), the bear, referring to the northerly constellation, the Great Bear. The vernacular name "puffin" – puffed in the sense of swollen – was originally applied to the fatty, salted meat of young birds of the unrelated species Manx shearwater ("Puffinus puffinus"), which in 1652 was known as the "Manks puffin". It is an Anglo-Norman word (Middle English "pophyn" or "poffin") used for the cured carcasses.
Black-vented shearwater central and southern California during the country's colder months. The black-vented shearwater is thought to feed on mainly small fish. This bird nests in burrows and caves; it is a colonial nester. In the past, this bird had been threatened by feral cats and other predators on its breeding islands, but the problem seems to have been largely eliminated. There is some loss of birds from commercial gill netting, and the species is classified as near threatened by the IUCN mainly due to the uncertain impact on it by the expanding fishing industry. Black-vented shearwater The black-vented shearwater ("Puffinus opisthomelas")