Summer feeding strategy of the little auk (Alle alle) from Bjornoya, Barents Sea

Summer food of the little auks nesting on Bjornoya consisted of large copep ods, decapod larvae and pelagic amphipods. Food items of 4-6 mm constituted the most common prey size fraction. This prey size range appears to be opt imal (most profitable) with regard to the balance between mean individual m ass and density of items in the surface layers of the sea. Little auks from Bjornoya only sporadically take the abundant copepod Calanus finmarchicus (2-3.5 mm in length) but select the much less abundant and larger Calanus g lacialis (3-6 mm).