Dovekie

Alternative name: Little Auk

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

Alle alle

Identification

19-21cm

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

Winter plumage
Photo by Glen Tepke
Near Wellfleet, Massachusetts, USA, January 2004

Distribution

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

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are 2 subspecies^[1]:

• A. a. alle:

• Baffin Island, Greenland and Iceland to Novaya Zemlya

• A. a. polaris:

• Frans Josef Land to St. Lawrence Island; winters to Maine

Habitat

Photo by the late Jim Wood
East Lothian, Scotland, November 2007

Open sea and coastal mountainsides for breeding.

Behaviour

Diet

The diet includes crustaceans, small invertebrates and fish.

Breeding

They breed in large colonies, nesting in crevices or beneath large rocks; they raise a single chick.

References

1. Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
2. Wikipedia

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Dovekie. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 22 December 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Dovekie

External Links

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