This alcid is widespread throughout the temperate and boreal coasts of the North Atlantic. The species nests in deep clefts or piles of boulders on islands in the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence. The rudimentary nest is sometimes lined with a few pebbles, occasionally with bits of plant matter, but in most cases the single egg is laid on a bare rock.
Incubation takes about five weeks.
Sand lance and Capelin are the staples of its diet. Our populations winter off the east coast of North America. The large colonies shown on the map in such places as the les Sainte-Marie Migratory Bird Sanctuary are actually groupings of adjoining colonies, as each colony rarely exceeds 20 pairs. As some of the bar charts show, the C te-Nord populations declined significantly after the period from 1955 to 1960, but have resurfaced in the last 15 years.