Scientific name: Alle alle (Linnaeus, 1758)
Bird group: Auks
Field characters. 20 cm. By far the smallest auk. In summer plumage, head, neck, throat, chest, upperparts, rump, and tail completely black. Underparts white. Edges of scapulars and tips of secondaries white and with small white spot above eye. Underwing appears dark in flight, but in fact is silvery grey, with some white in the centre. In winter plumage, white of underparts extends up to cheeks. Juveniles are hardly separable from adults. Has a fast whirring flight, like other auks, but may give impression of a small wader, such as Dunlin or Ruddy Turnstone. Flight can be more erratic and less straight than in other auks. May be confused in flight with Atlantic Puffin, but Puffin is always larger and more rotund, with heavier head and blacker underwings.
Voice. On breeding colonies very vocal, but usually silent at sea.
Distribution. Only found in the high arctic, where extremely numerous during breeding season; usually far offshore in winter, but can be blown inland by heavy storms.
Habitat. Breeds on sloping cliffs between boulders and in crevices
Food. Mainly crustaceans.