Auks Alcidae (6)

(Banner Photos: Atlantic Puffin (above) and Black Guillemot (below) by Jim Wilson)

Common Guillemot Uria aalge
Common and widespread offshore throughout the year, breeds at a number of coastal sites.
Summer Distribution Winter Distribution

Razorbill Alca torda
Common and widespread offshore throughout the year, breeds at a number of coastal sites.
Summer Distribution Winter Distribution

Great Auk (extinct) Pinguinus impennis
Awaiting Information.

Black Guillemot Cepphus grylle
Local and generally uncommon resident, especially in the south-west. Summer Distribution Winter Distribution

Little Auk Alle alle
Occasional late autumn and winter visitor.
Sometimes seen in larger numbers, usually following severe winter storms.

99 county records. Over 55 birds were recorded in the county up to 1954. At least 475 birds were recorded between 1959 and the end of 2013.

Birds were seen at the following locations: Ballycotton, Ballydehob, Ballydesdmond, Ballylanders strand. Ballymacoda Bay, Baltimore, Bantry, Broad Strand, Cape Clear Island, Cobh, Cork Harbour, Doneraile, Douglas Estuary, Dursey Island, Galley Head, Garryvoe, Inch Strand, Kilkerran Lake, Knockadoon Head, Old Head of Kinsale, Pilmore Strand, Rathcoursey/Rostellan. Roaringwater Bay, Timoleague.

Ususally seen singly or in small numbers, the highest count was 191 at Cape Clear on the 7th November 1991.

Recorded in all months except June and July with most seen between November and January.

Distribution: The Little Auk breeds on islands of the high Arctic, being found on islands in the Bering Sea, from east Baffin Island (Canada), through Greenland (to Denmark), Iceland to Spitsbergen, Bear Island and the Jan Mayen Islands (to Norway), Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land, Russia. It is migratory, expanding its range in winter to include the North Atlantic Ocean as far south as the United Kingdom and the north-east USA. (Birdlife International)

Atlantic Puffin Fratercula arctica
Uncommon from spring to autumn offshore, principally in the south-west.

Breeding status uncertain, but known to breed at least in small numbers in the south-west.