Horned and Tufted

We watched puffins flying around a little as we drifted near Puffin Island. We see both Tufted Puffins and Horned Puffins in the Kodiak waters. They are easy to differentiate not only from their face and beak but also the color on their underside. The Tufted Puffin is solid black and the Horned Puffin is white. You normally think about wildlife colors evolving to some level of camouflage advantage in nature. The white versus black is interesting and makes me scratch my head a bit. Both birds live most of their life on the water and only nest on land. Which color helps them hide from prey?

The first two photos are Tufted Puffins and the second two are Horned Puffins.

Thanks,

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