Alcidae

Alcidae is the auk family, seabirds of the order Charadriiformes that include the murres, guillemots, auklets, puffins and murrelets, comprising 25 extant or recently extinct species in 11 genera found throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Apart from the extinct great auk, all living auks retain flight but are excellent swimmers and divers that appear to fly underwater while walking clumsily on land. Their black and white coloring and upright posture superficially resemble penguins, a case of convergent evolution rather than close kinship, and species range in size from the 85 gram least auklet to the 1 kilogram thick-billed murre.