Nature Atlas

How Nature Works
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Specy

Little auk

Birds

The little auk, also called the dovekie in North America, is a small seabird in the family Alcidae and the only member of the genus Alle, making it the smallest auk found in the Atlantic. It measures 19 to 21 centimeters long with a wingspan of 34 to 38 centimeters, about half the size of the Atlantic puffin. It breeds in huge numbers on islands in the high Arctic of the North Atlantic, including Greenland, Svalbard, Novaya Zemlya, and Franz Josef Land, dispersing widely across the Arctic and North Atlantic in winter as far south as northern Great Britain and Nova Scotia. In breeding plumage it has a black head, neck, back, and wings against pure white underparts and a short stubby bill, and it forages underwater mainly for copepods and other small crustaceans. It is listed as Least Concern. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Classification
Diet
Insectivore 1
System (Realm)
Terrestrial 2
System (Realm)
Marine 2
Living or Extinct
Yes 3
Scientific Name
Alle alle 3
Conservation Status
Least Concern 4
Connections

Child Taxon Of

Alcidae, Taxa
Source Little auk (Wikidata)
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. EltonTraits 1.0 (Wilman et al. 2014)
2. GBIF Species API
GBIF Species APIView the Source
3. Little auk (Wikidata)
Wikidata
  • Wikidata Q26470 (P225 taxon name)
  • Statements section, conservation status (P141)
    IUCN Red List conservation status (Wikidata property P141): least concern.
  • Child Taxon Of: Alcidae, Wikidata parent-taxon (P171) chain
View the Source
4. Little auk (Wikipedia)
Conservation status (IUCN Red List category stated in entity description)
Quote, Conservation status (IUCN Red List category stated in entity description)
ges underwater mainly for copepods and other small crustaceans. It is listed as Least Concern.
View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.