Scientific name:Alle alle
Danish: Sokonge
English: Little Auk
French: Le Petit Guillemot
Greenland: Agpaliarssuk
Old English: Little Black-and-White Diver; Icebird
Russian: Lyurik; Portushka

"There were tens of thousands of birds. . . an experience and sight of such beauty and intensity as to defy description." These words express Lorenz Ferdinand's feelings of awe when he saw flights of Dovekies in the Arctic.¹⁸⁸ There is no more predominant bird in the northern Atlantic than this little auk. It swarms there in thousands as the various other small auklets do in the Bering Sea. The species is described by nearly every Arctic explorer, and every account estimates many millions in a single flock actually darkening the sky when it takes flight.

Although most abundant in the extreme northern Atlantic up to 82° latitude and breeding to almost the same latitude, the Dovekie has been known offshore at Point Barrow, Alaska, St. Lawrence Island, St. Matthew Island and the Pribilofs.^{53, 151} To the east, it has, in rare incidences, been recorded in the Mediterranean near Italy and Malta. The Dovekie breeds in Spitsbergen, Bear Island, Franz Josef Land, and in the northwest of Novaya Zemlya and Severnaya Zemlya in Russian waters. Towards the west, it is found in northern Iceland and the western coasts of Greenland.⁶¹ The species is not known to breed in the Canadian archipelago, but near Thule, on the west coast of Greenland, colonies from 20 to 30 million birds may exist.^{51, 105, 513} Its total population may exceed 36 million birds.⁴³⁹

Normally, the Dovekie winters among the ice floes of the high Arctic marine zone where it feeds, according to the supply at the time, on the abundant amphipods, copepods, decapods, and small arctic cod.^{93, 95, 96} In Newfoundland, the Dovekie winters from the inshore littoral zone to the pelagic zone, but it is most frequent between the littoral and offshore (Benthic) zone at the edge of the continental shelf on the southern Grand Banks.¹⁰³

Winter wrecks inland in North America are high points in bird history. The greatest Dovekie influx occurred in November and December, 1932, when thousands were reported, dead or alive, brought inland by a particularly tempestuous storm. Estimates of 20,000 dead birds were found as far south as Florida and some were caught in nets near Cuba. Flights along the eastern coast of North America in early winter months have also been seen in fair weather.⁴⁰⁹ Dorothy Snyder reports such a phenomenon on 7 November, 1950. She estimated at least 14,000 passing a given point in one hour and forty minutes at Cape Ann, Massachusetts.^{560, 561} There is no explanation for such flights in good weather since most incidents of unusual flights southward have been attributed to storms.

The Dovekie averages about 22 centimeters in body length with a wing span of approximately 42 centimeters. Females tend to be slightly smaller than the males.⁵⁰⁸ Its slender wings move very rapidly in flight giving a false impression of speed. Early in the breeding season, flocks tend to fly in unison, flapping their wings at the same speed. In circling flights around their breeding grounds they often fly out of synchrony, some even flying upside down at times in a sporting display.¹⁸⁸

Dovekies nest in cavities of talus slopes in every possible location between patches of snow from just above the tideline to the tops of the slopes. In Spitsbergen, colonies are sometimes found 32 kilometers from the sea while in northern Greenland, they locate up to 6 kilometers inland. Breeding places reach an altitude of about 400 meters and colonies may be several kilometers in extent,with a nest density of more than one nest per square meter.^{368, 447, 513}

In northern Greenland, the species first arrives near its breeding grounds during the first few days of May. In fact, the term for May in the Polar Eskimo language means "The coming of the Dovekies." Ferdinand noted that during his observation periods at Thule, Greenland, in May and June, 1964, the temperatures were generally 4 to 8 degrees below zero Celsius. Seldom were the winds calm and only in July did the temperature average above the freezing point.¹⁸⁸

At sea, Dovekies live among the drift-ice where they find shelter and feed in large numbers between the floes.⁹⁵ They often rest on the ice, turning it pink with excrement.

Salomonsen described the landnam (the coming-to-the-land) flights at the beginning of the breeding season. He saw large flocks resembling swarms of mosquitoes or drifting smoke circling for hours over their breeding ground and singing as they flew.⁵¹³ Ferdinand also described these flights as follows:¹⁸⁸ "The number of flocks gradually increased for one or two hours . . . The sizes of the flocks changed incessantly . . . For certain periods the birds flew at very high speed, especially when opposite the breeding-ground. At the same time their calls and trills were heard particularly loudly."

In the Thule, Greenland, area, these flights occur in the middle of May after or during calm sunny weather and immediately after midnight. The flocks fly high, almost out of sight, the birds all the while uttering their clear trilling song. For several days they congregate on land, and then, suddenly, all desert the slopes for several days. These comings and goings occur several times before the flocks finally settle for the season during the first week of June.¹⁸⁸

Once established on the breeding grounds, the Dovekie is quite tame allowing man to approach to within five or six meters. It is not difficult to observe its activities, as witnessed by the observations of Ferdinand whose study specialized upon the sound made by this fascinating species.¹⁸⁸

Sounds emitted during its early flights remind one of "something between the scream of a gull and the hoot of a deep siren." At other times "short, weak calls" are heard. The activity continues through the early morning hours and gradually tapers off until 1:00 P.M. when all the birds have left the breeding territory.¹⁸⁸

Other calls described by Ferdinand for the Dovekies are: (1) The single call or warning call. This is described as a hoarse, unmelodious sound produced by individual birds which appear disturbed or restless. It may be a distress call; (2) flock singing, the collective form of the trilling call. It is heard from both sitting and flying birds. Bateson describes this call as "screams of seemingly hysterical witch-like laughter, shrill, descending chatter which is noticeably contagious among the flock;⁵¹ (3) the aggressive call, emitted by pairs of birds displaying together and often made in connection with copulation duets; (4) the clucking call, a weak, clucking sound heard only at close quarters which is made by pairs of birds and seems to communicate the idea of taking to flight; and (5) the snarling call, heard from pairs of birds seeking a nesting site. While making this sound, the bird sits close to the ground quivering its feathers as if to indicate the desire to incubate.

Like all other alcids the Dovekie engages in long periods of billing during courtship and throughout the breeding season. Other commonly observed behavior include pre-copulatory billing; jogging, where one bird jogs behind the other with its head bent forward and bill downward; snow scratching; picking up stones, apparently for nesting material; presenting pebbles to one another; and imitation incubation movements.

The density of nests varies with the structure of the rock piles. Some colonies have a density of more than one nest per square meter. The nest consists of a layer of pebbles set back a meter or more deep in a cavity between angular, lichen-encrusted rock slabs. The first eggs appear around mid June. Normally one egg is laid but occasionally two eggs are found in a clutch. The egg is a very pale bluish color, and is comparatively large for the size of the bird. Twenty-four days are spent incubating; the first eggs hatching about mid-July. Twenty-six to twenty-nine days later the first young leave their nest for the sea; by the end of August, most have fledged.⁵¹³

A bird carrying food for its young is easily distinguished from the others. Like the other plankton-feeding auklets, Dovekies possess a throat or gular pouch, which opens under the tongue. When this is filled with food, it distends greatly, giving the bird a comical frog-like appearance.

During summer months in the breeding areas, dusk and dawn are inseparable: there is light for twenty-four hours. This facilitates the feeding of the young for they can be fed at all times of the day. However, most of the Dovekie's prey rises to the surface during the darker parts of the day between 10:00 P.M. and 4:00 A.M. when most feeding activity takes place. 188 Fred Bruemmer saw Dovekies in breeding plumage feeding actively between 2:00 P.M. and 1:00 A.M. in Baffin Bay.¹⁰⁹ These were in large flocks, and 100 to 150 kilometers away from the nearest known breeding grounds, an indication that Dovekies often fly considerable distances to feed while rearing young. Further observations are needed to prove this beyond doubt, however, it is possible that the flocks of birds observed had completed breeding activities or were unsuccessful breeders or even nonbreeders.

The sea is rich with plankton in these months of continuous daylight. Phytoplankton provides food for swarms of euphausiids and copepods, which, in turn, provide food in abundance for the hordes of Dovekies.^96,508 Magnar Norderhaug studied the consumption of food in nestling Dovekies.⁴⁴⁶ Both male and female share in feeding the young eight to nine times daily. During the first week after hatching, each meal averaged 2.3 grams which was increased during the fourth week to about 3.5 grams. The total amount of food consumed in twenty-seven days by a growing chick averaged 689.4 grams. In 1963 and 1964, all nestlings averaged an increase in weight of 92.8 grams in twenty-seven days. Day-old chicks weighed 21.5 grams on the average, while chicks twenty-seven days old weighed 114.3 grams. Norderhaug calculated that 13.5 percent of the food consumed was utilized for growth. A colony of 100,000 pairs may transport about 70 tons of zooplankton to the colony during just one month of summer.⁴⁴⁷ For its own needs, an adult Dovekie consumes at least 80 percent of its body mass in plankton each day.²⁰⁰

Actually, Dovekie chicks gain their maximum body weight by the time they are 17 to 20 days old and then begin to lose weight until the time of leaving the nest. During this weight loss period they gain longer wings and other dynamics that provide ultimate efficiency for their first flight to the sea.^578,580 Dovekies develop faster and have a shorter nesting period than other plankton feeding auks such as the Cassin's Auklet. The brief arctic breeding season probably necessitates this accelerated growth rate, while the long days allow for frequent feedings.

By mid-September, all activity around the breeding colonies has stopped. The young have flown to sea and all that remains is the pinkish guano and a few hidden caches of eggs and carcasses stowed away by the foxes for winter supplies. Always associated with the colonies are a few Glaucous Gulls which prey upon the birds as they come in for a landing, or snatch young ones before they can reach the sea. Gulls are the Dovekies' chief predator. A few are taken by other avian predators such as Gyrfalcons, Ravens, eagles, and Snowy Owls. At sea, a few are eaten by large fish, seals, and Beluga Whales.

Greenland's Polar Eskimos are dependent on the Dovekie colonies for food.^{110, 514} They use skins for clothing, fat for fuel, and flesh for food. Despite harvesting by man, the Dovekie continues to survive well because huge numbers breed in inaccessible areas away from human settlements and because of the abundant food supplied by arctic seas. However, the more southerly colonies are smaller than they once were, but this may be due to warming trends of the climate. If it is true that the world is now in for a cooling period, the Dovekie may re-establish the more southern colonies as the ice and their food push southward. Actually, temperature trends may well be toward higher averages which may cause a further decrease in population level. The Dovekie usually avoids the warmer water of the Gulf Stream because its prey is not found there. Of necessity, it must go where the food is more abundant and, when sudden excessively cold spells in winter freeze the seas, it wanders in search of open water.

Banding returns indicate that long migrations are undertaken by Dovekies. Recoveries in winter reveal that the northwestern Greenland population from the Thule area winters in Newfoundland waters, while birds banded in Spitsbergen have been recovered as winter visitors in western Greenland.⁵¹⁴