Razorbill
size:
length: 37-39 centimeters
wingspan: 63-67 centimeters
weight:
710 grams
color:
black and white, with a white stripe across the bill
age:
maximum 41 years
food:
mostly fish
enemies:
oil spills at sea
reproduction:
maturity: age 4
number of eggs per nest: 1
- Dut: Alk
- Eng: Razorbill
- Fren: Petit Pingouin
- Ger: Tordalk
- Ital: Gazzamarina
- Dan: Alk
- Nor: Alke
- Fries: Alk
- Lat: Alca torda
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- Razorbill, Foto Fitis, www.fotofitis.nl
Razorbill
Razorbills are expert swimmers and divers. Their short wings work just as well above water as under water. Diving down to 120 meter in search of lesser sandeel or other fish is no problem. In the air, they are true acrobats. They can flap their wings so quickly that you can't even follow it with the naked eye. This rapid wing movement allows them to fly low over the water surface and navigate between the waves.
- Bungy jumpers
- Razorbills on breeding rocks, Foto Fitis, www.fotofitis.nl
Just like guillemots, the young razorbills jump into the sea before they can fly. The egg is bred on the edge of overhanging rocks, so the young do not fall onto other rocks when they jump into the unknown.
- Distribution of razorbills in the North Sea region
- Distribution of the razorbill, Ecomare
Source: Important bird areas for seabirds in the North Sea.
Razorbills breed mostly on the Scottish coasts and on the Orkney and Shetland Islands, a total of 73,000 razorbill pairs. After breeding season, the razorbills migrate to the south as far as the southern North Sea. A few specimen travel further, down to the coast of Morocco and the western part of the Mediterranean Sea.
Around 22,000 razorbills are found in the Dutch North Sea in the winter. This is 1% of the total razorbill population. Most of the overwintering razorbills come from the British coast, but there are also birds from Iceland.
WWW
See also
- Alk
- Bird migration
- North Sea
- Ramsar convention
- Southern North Sea
Info
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