Alcidae - auks, murres, puffins

The Alcidae family includes the auks, puffins and murres. The birds in this family look a lot like penguins! They are black and white and stand upright. They are very good swimmers and divers, but unlike penguins, auks can fly! They have short wings and webbed feet. They live on the open ocean except during the breeding season. Species in this family are found in the Northern Hemisphere in areas with cold water.


One species in this family, the great auk, is extinct. It once was found in breeding colonies on rocky islands and coats in the North Atlantic in Canada, Greenland, Iceland, the British Isles, and Scandinavia. In the winter, the great auk migrated as far south as Florida. The great auk was stood a little over two feet tall. It was black with a white belly, and it had an oval white patch over its eyes. The great auk was hunted for food and fish bait and for its feathers. The last known pair was killed by collectors in Iceland in 1844.

New Hampshire Species		Other North American Species
Black Guillemot Common Murre Dovekie Razorbill		Ancient Murrelet Atlantic Puffin Cassin's Auklet Craveri's Murrelet Crested Auklet Horned Puffin Kittzlitz's Murrelet Least Auklet Long-billed Murrelet Marbled Murrelet Parakeet Auklet Pigeon Guillemot Rhinoceros Auklet Thick-billed Murre Tufted Puffin Whiskered Auklet Xantus' Murrelet