The Little Auk Alle alle in Belgium

Little Auks Alle alle winter in the central en northern North Sea and visit the southern North Sea only in small numbers (Stone el al. 1995). The species is rare in Belgium (Commissie voor de Belgische Avifauna 1967, Lippens & Wille 1972, Raes & Van Compel 1989). Over the past 20 years, in fact since winter 1977/78, Little Auks have been recorded more frequently along the Belgian coast (Lust & Vanloo 1991, Van Compel 1990). An unprecedented influx was witnessed in the autumn of 1995. In this paper, we give an overview of all Little Auk observations in the autumn of 1995, and compare the present invasion with previous ones.