This is a crested auklet (Aethia cristatella). Like many seabirds, they are socially monogamous, which means they spend an awful lot of time with their mate. And boy, do they dedicate a lot of time to attracting and keeping that mate!
Like many other birds, they squawk and show off their beautiful voices.
Like many other birds, they display their fancy ornaments.
But what sets crested auklets apart from all the other birds?
THEY SMELL LIKE ORANGES.
You heard that right! Crested auklets are one of the only bird species that use olfactory signaling during the breeding season. Both males and females give off a distinctly citrusy odor during the breeding season, and perform a distinct courtship display (called the ruff-sniff) when one bird shoves its face into the other’s feathers.
The closely-related whiskered auklet also smells like oranges.
IMPORTANT BIRD ANNOUNCEMENT UPDATE!!!!!!!!
DURING COURTSHIP THE AUKLETS WILL SPREAD THEIR CITRUSY ODOR ON EACH OTHER
IT’S CALLED ALLOANOINTING
It has been my long-avowed ambition to huff an auklet and now I know how
EY FATTY BOOM BOOM 