From Opus

Summer plumage
Photo by steinn
Bjørndalen, Svalbard, Norway, June 2007

Alternative name: Little Auk

Alle alle

[edit] Identification

19-21cm.

• Black upperparts
• Black head, neck and wings
• Lower face and foreneck become white in winter
• White below
• Small round black tail
• Short bill

Winter plumage
Photo by Glen Tepke
Location: near Wellfleet, Massachusetts, USA

[edit] Distribution

Breeding in Arctic areas (mostly northern Atlantic Ocean), in winter to northern Europe and north-eastern USA.

[edit] Taxonomy

There are 2 subspecies.

A. a. alle - Greenland, Iceland, Novaya Zemlya and Spitsbergen.

A. a. polaris - Franz Josef Land.

[edit] Habitat

Open sea and coastal mountainsides for breeding.

[edit] Behaviour

The diet includes crustaceans, small invertebrates and fish.

They live large colonies, nesting in crevices or beneath large rocks; 1 egg is laid.

[edit] Vocalisation

[edit] References

Wikipedia

[edit] External Links