Dovekie

The Dovekie, known in Europe as the Little Auk, is a tiny, plump seabird of the high Arctic, notable for being the smallest auk in the North Atlantic. Its compact, round body, short neck, and stubby bill give it a distinctly chubby, almost bumblebee-like appearance in flight, with fast, whirring wingbeats. Breeding adults are black above and on the throat and upper breast, with white underparts, while winter birds show a white throat and face.

Despite its diminutive size, the Dovekie is one of the most numerous seabirds in the world, with colonies in Greenland and Svalbard sometimes numbering in the millions of pairs, forming some of the most spectacular wildlife gatherings in the Arctic.

Key field marks

• Very small size, plump rounded body
• Short, stubby black bill
• Black upperparts and throat in breeding plumage, white underparts
• Fast, direct, whirring flight low over water

Similar species

• Common Murre and Thick-billed Murre are considerably larger with longer bills and more elongated bodies.
• Black Guillemot shows a large white wing patch that Dovekies lack.
• Non-breeding Dovekies show white extending onto the throat and face, but their tiny size and stubby bill remain distinctive year-round.

Dovekies breed in enormous colonies on scree slopes and boulder fields at the base of cliffs across the high Arctic, including Greenland, Svalbard, Franz Josef Land, and Novaya Zemlya. Outside the breeding season, they disperse widely over the North Atlantic, often congregating near the edge of pack ice, and many winter well offshore, occasionally driven closer to coastlines, including the northeastern United States, by severe winter storms.

The species is closely tied to cold, productive Arctic and subarctic waters year-round, rarely straying far from areas with abundant zooplankton.

Behavior

Dovekies form dense, swirling flocks around their breeding colonies, and their sheer numbers make colony sites among the most impressive wildlife spectacles in the Arctic; they dive and swim underwater to capture tiny prey.

Voice

A high-pitched, chattering trill is given at breeding colonies, often as part of a rolling chorus from thousands of birds simultaneously.

Feeding

Zooplankton, especially copepods, along with other small crustaceans, make up nearly the entire diet, gathered by pursuit-diving in cold Arctic waters.

Nesting and breeding

A single egg is laid in a crevice among boulders or scree, without nest material; both parents share incubation and chick-feeding duties, carrying zooplankton back to the chick in a specialized throat pouch.