Abo

I believe it was pointy and either straight or slightly curved. More shaped like a kingfisher's beak but shorter and smaller. Certainly not parrot-like or duck-like.

Thanks for answering, but unfortunately it were no Aucklets or Puffins. The red color inside the wings was very distinctive, and they were not crested. I saw them at the Pairi Daiza zoo in Belgium by the way. There was no info on them there so I suspect they were only housed there temporary.

A while ago I encountered an amazing type of bird while visiting a zoo, and I've been trying too find out exactly what it was. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures, but I will try to give my best description from memory: The birds were rather small, black feathers, with the inside of their wings colored a bright red/dark orange. They were aquatic birds, but shaped quite aerodinamically (so not like a duck). Most notably, they could dive underwater and resurface flying up vertically, fluttering almost like a hummingbird. They were constantly displaying this behaviour, playfully diving in and out of the water. They were in a zoo enclosure with shallow pools, which they shared with tiny penguins and other water birds from all over the world, so I have no clue what region they are from. It would be amazing if anyone knows the name of this bird. It was unlike any other bird I'd ever seen, but somehow I can't seem to find anything about it using Google...