Gould observed of this bird 'It is much more local than most of the rock birds, and many of the stations that are thronged in multitudes by the Common Guillemot, Razorbill and Puffin are never visited by this species.'

The illustration shows an adult bird in summer plumage (foreground) and behind an adult in winter plumage.

DISTRIBUTION: Breeding distribution circumpolar from Greenland to northeast Siberia and Commander and Kuril islands; from arctic North America south in the northeast to Maine and Nova Scotia and south in the northwest to Alaska and Yukon. Winters mostly at sea near the breeding grounds and south to northern Europe and New Jersey