As has been said elsewhere, they sound somewhat like they're laughing. They seem to be social birds, as well. These little auks are congregating, as they do, in the Norway's Svalbard archipelago. Svalbard didn't really have a population until the 17th century. I wonder what the first human settlers made of these cackling birds.
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They're very cute and noisy little birds indeed. I thought at first they looked like puffins but they actually don't since puffins are much larger and also sport very colorful beaks, but interestingly, they do belong to the same family - alcids: birds that feed by diving in water.
I remember the time in Halifax when we saw a dozen or more gannets plunge diving from pretty great heights deep into the water off Point Pleasant Park. We only saw them that one time but it was an amazing sight. It made me interested in seeing the large bird sanctuaries off the coast of Newfoundland until I learned how much effort is required to get there - hours by ferry off the North coast followed by some long drives.
Yes, I remember reading a book that covered penguins, auks, and puffins. Penguins aren't in the same family, but all three are cold-adapted birds. And the word "penguin", oddly enough, is derived from the Welsh name for the now extinct Great Auk. Anyway, puffins apparently lose their colorful beaks and grow grey ones after mating season.
Gannets are pretty cool looking birds. They're mostly white, so from a great distance you might mistake them for gulls, but they have yellow heads and long blue beaks, and their eyes tend to be blue as well. Too bad the sanctuaries were so far away. Then again, I guess that's kind of handy when you're making a sanctuary.
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