Bird 342 – Razorbill

This week we meet the Penguin in the north, the Razorbill.

And sure enough, at first glance the Razorbill has a strong Penguin resemblance. They have white bellies and black backs; they spend the majority of their life out at sea, only coming to land to lay their eggs; they’re speciality dive hunters and are quite agile under the water, while being clumsy on land. There is only one major difference between the Penguin and the Razorbill—the Razorbill can fly.

To be both an expert diver and a flyer is a rare feat. The Razorbill hunts for the majority of its prey at surprising depths deep, diving on average to about 25 metres, but they have been recorded going well over 100 meters down when they need to. 

You may ask the question, seeing they’re so like Penguins in other ways, why didn’t the Razorbill opt to become flightless, turning their wings to flippers, so they could be even quicker and more agile in the water? Good question, but the answer comes down to where they live. In the southern oceans the Penguin doesn’t have to worry about land predators. There is nothing walking about on Antarctica that can threaten a stumbly-bumbly flightless bird. Zip up to the North Atlantic and you’ve got a different situation. When the Razorbill comes to land they have to contend with Polar Bears and Artic Foxes. Flight can come in handy in these situations, and so the Razorbill has retained their ability to fly.

The Razorbill is a member of the Auk family, and they’re close relatives of the Puffins. Like their colourful relatives, when the Razorbill comes to land they form into large colonies, laying their eggs in cliff crevices. Pairs mate for life and work together to incubate and raise a single chick. While not as unusual or colourful as some other Auk varieties, I still find them to be a rather stately and handsome bird.

If you’d like to learn more about the Penguins on the north, I have previously put together on podcast on their broader family, here. And if you want to learn about the one member of the Auk family who was truly flightless, the Great Auk and what led to their extinction, you can listen to that episode here. 

25/02/24

Photo credit:

1: By Charles J. Sharp – Own work, from Sharp Photography, sharpphotography.co.uk

2: “Razorbills and Puffins” by rwhgould

3: “Razorbills” by kvn.jns

4: “Razorbill with a nice catch” by neekoh.fi