Arctic Birds

When one thinks of animals living in the Arctic, it is not unlikely to think of the majestic and ferocious Polar Bear, the beautiful black-and-white Orca, or the stunning Arctic Fox. But it isn’t just mammals that live up north, as there are about 200 birds that live in the Arctic, making up 2% of the world’s avian diversity. These birds also form large groups, with sometimes 10,000 of them roosting in a single spot.

Some of the remarkable birds living in the tundra include the Arctic Tern, known for its long migration around the world from the Arctic to the Antarctic, or the Black Guillemot, which is known to dive underwater to hunt for food and can hold its breath for over 2 minutes while doing so. To adapt to their environment, many of the birds living here have developed white plumage to camouflage themselves against a snowy backdrop or, for the birds living closer to the water, a black-and-white coloration that makes them difficult to spot while they swim.

List of Arctic Birds

Birds of Prey

Gyrfalcon
Snowy Owl

Forest Birds

Arctic Redpoll
Arctic Warbler
Lapland Longspur
Snow Bunting
Rock Ptarmigan

Seabirds

Atlantic Puffin
Black Guillemot
Black-legged Kittiwake
Common Murre
Crested Auklet
Glaucous Gull
Great Skua
Heuglin’s Gull
Iceland Gull
Ivory Gull
Pomarine Jaeger
Least Auklet
Long-tailed Jaeger
Northern Fulmar
Parasitic Jaeger
Red-legged Kittiwake
Ross’s Gull
Sabine’s Gull
Thayer’s Gull

Shorebirds

Arctic Tern
Baird’s Sandpiper
Black Turnstone
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Curlew Sandpiper
Dunlin
Gray Plover
Little Auk
Little Stint
Long-billed Dowitcher
Pacific Golden Plover
Pectoral Sandpiper
Purple Sandpiper
Red Knot
Red Phalarope
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
White-rumped Sandpiper

Waterfowl

Barnacle Goose
Brant Goose
Greater White-fronted Goose
King Eider
Lesser White-fronted Goose
Long-tailed Duck
Ross’s Goose
Snow Goose
Spectacled Eider
Steller’s Eider
Thick-billed Murre
Yellow-billed Loon

FAQs

1. Which birds living in the Arctic are endangered?

Several birds living in the Arctic have shown a massive decline in their numbers, with some populations lowered by as much as 90%. The most affected birds appear to be the waders or shorebirds, including the Dunlin, the Red Knot, and the Curlew Sandpiper.

2. Do penguins live in the Arctic?

No, penguins cannot be found in the Arctic. This is because of the flightless nature of these birds, which heavily restricts their mobility and makes them susceptible to predation from the many land predators living in the Arctic, like the Arctic Fox, the Polar Bear, and several wolf species.

3. Are there any flightless birds in the Arctic?

While there aren’t any flightless birds in the Arctic nowadays, in the past, members of the genus Gastornis used to live in the region. These were large flightless birds that fed on plants and seeds.