This juvenile (?) bird was found just after low tide in the evening. Being an alcid that should be offshore this time of year we were perplexed to find it but it was not apparently injured or ill and we think it was just startled by our flashlights as we were walking the beach. After making sure the bird was unharmed we let it be and on subsequent walks in the region did not find it again so hopefully this was just some aberrant behavior due to unseasonably warm weather. I would love to hear any ideas for why this bird may have come ashore in the winter despite being a species which winters offshore.

EDIT: Found some information about dovekie "wrecks" here: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Dovekie/overview