Like many auks an abundant species (c.12 million pairs), found in the higher latitudes of the North Atlantic in to the Arctic Ocean. There are
two subspecies, the nominate from Greenland to Svalbard, and the larger polaris from Franz Josef Land to the Bering Sea. They winter at sea to the south of their breeding grounds, and are
familiar to UK birders as flocks often pass seawatching points, plus occasional birds are "wrecked" on the coast and spend a few days on freshwater lagoons etc. Easily the smallest Atlantic Alcid.
Taken Snettisham Nov.2006 and Salthouse Nov. 1990
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