Auk spp

Fort Vic:

During what was overall a fairly pedestrian sea watch, and whilst watching a guillemot preparing itself to land on the sea: two smaller birds suddenly came into view and overtook it. So I naturally locked on to them and tracked them as they continued in a westerly direction - and soon deduced they were auks. When they'd passed the guillemot I was able to make a size comparison and it was obvious they were considerably smaller; I'd also noted their flight path and action: both kept low just above the water and consistently veered (or zigzagged) doing so in unison; very much reminded me of the puffins I usually see when I visit Scotland. I further concluded that they were probably little auks. Just slightly out too far to pick out any other conclusive details.