Theresa Ridgeway, age 13, of Dover, for her question:
WHERE DOES THE AUK GO IN WINTER?
Auk is the common name for a number of web footed seabirds, especially the razor billed auk, a 1 inch long swimming bird that spends most of the year in the open water of the North Atlantic Ocean. In the winter this bird migrates as far south as Cape Hatteras.
The auk has short wings and a short tail. It has feeble powers of flight and is awkward on land. However, ft is an excellent swimmer and diver and uses its wings to swim under water.
The bird breeds in summer on the rocky ledges of the North Atlantic coast from Newfoundland and Greenland to Norway.
The great auk, or garefowl, is now extinct. It was a large bird, about the size of a goose. Unable to fly, it was easy prey for explorers and fishers who hunted it for feathers and oil until 1850.
Other members of the family are auklets, guillemots and puffins. Auks are related to gulls and waders.