Our Svalbard trip took us past a bird cliff housing some 100,000 of this species (also known as Brunnich's Guillemot), plus assorted Fulmars and Kittiwakes. As we sat at the base of the cliff, they were coming at me from every direction like speeding bullets, and it was tough to isolate and track a single individual. Conditions were rather dark and drizzly. I did manage to get a few, out of a few hundred attempts. This one is full-frame, shifted in the frame for better comp.
I know how hard it is to get these little speeding bullets. Details look great here. Did you try pushing the exposure? The blacks are too dark and the whites looked grayed over. You have enough detail here that I think you could try and eke more out of this one.
Thanks for the comments. Here's a repost that lifts the blacks and mid-tones a tad, using Curves. I'm not sure if this more accurately reflects the scene as I saw it. On a dark drizzly day, with a bird flying over the cold dark Barents Sea and no uplight component, I don't expect to see bright whites or detailed blacks, but perhaps this addresses your concerns, Isaac.