The Razorbills are found in boreal and sub-Arctic waters of the Atlantic. Razorbills are exclusively an Atlantic species, with no counterpart in the North Pacific. It breeds between 73 degree north and 43 degree north from Hudson Strait and west Greenland south to the Gulf of Maine, and from Iceland Jan Mayen, Bjornoya and northwest Russia (White Sea), south to Brittany and the Baltic Sea. During the winter they are mostly offshore in northern boreal water south to Long Island, Azores and western Mediterranean. Their breeding colonies can be found on sea cliffs of Canada, Maine, Greenland, Iceland, Jan Mayen, Faeroe Island, Britain, Ireland, Brittany, France, Helgland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Bjornoya, Kola Peninsula and White Sea. (Nettleship & Birkhead, 1985)

Biogeographic Regions: arctic ocean (Native ); atlantic ocean (Native )

occurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations

Canada

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Breeding

Global Range: (>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)) BREEDS: Hudson Strait and western Greenland south to Gulf of Maine, and from Iceland, Jan Mayen, Bjornoya and northwestern Russia south to Brittany and the Baltic Sea. In the early 1980s, nested on four islands in Gulf of Maine (Maine, the only U.S. breeding sites) (Spendelow and Patton 1988). WINTERS: mostly offshore in northern boreal waters south to Long Island (New York), Azores, western Mediterranean (AOU 1983).

Razorbills are heavy-billed auks with an unusually long, rather graduated tail. During summer the head and the throat of adult Razorbills are black and dark chocolate brown. The under parts, including the under wing coverts, are white. There is a narrow white line extending forward from the eyes to the top of the bill. The gape is bright yellow and its iris is dark brown. Their legs and feet are black.

During winter the adult Razorbills are in their breeding plumage, but their throat, sides of neck, and face behind the eye are white. The vertical white line on the head and bill is less prominent.

The average weight for female Razorbills ranged from 505g to 730g. For males the weight ranged from 530g-720g. Average wing length for females ranged from 183mm-210mm. For males the wing length ranged from 182mm-206mm. (Wagner, 1999)

Range mass: 505 to 730 g.

Range wingspan: 182 to 210 mm.

Length: 43 cm

Weight: 719 grams

• Terrestrial
• Marine

Razorbill colonies occur on cliffs and offshore islands. They breed colonially in rocky, coastal regions on mainland cliffs and on offshore islands. In most areas breeding locations are situated in boulder screens or on cliff-faces in rock crevices or on ledges. Because the chicks cannot fly when they leave the colony, the breeding site must give immediate access to the sea. They feed in continental shelf waters, and usually feed rather close to shore than Common Murres (Uria aalge). Sometimes, Razorbills scatter among the Murres. (Gaston & Jone, 1998)

Habitat Regions: saltwater or marine

Aquatic Biomes: coastal

Comments: Sea coasts and open sea. Nests on coastal cliffs and on rocky shores and islands, usually in crevice or niche or in holes between and under boulders (AOU 1983, Harrison 1978). Usually nests with murres (Terres 1980). Usually uses same nest site in successive years. Isolated islands free of quadruped predators seem essential for successful reproduction (Buckley and Buckley 1984).

Non-Migrant: No. All populations of this species make significant seasonal migrations.

Locally Migrant: Yes. At least some populations of this species make local extended movements (generally less than 200 km) at particular times of the year (e.g., to breeding or wintering grounds, to hibernation sites).

Locally Migrant: Yes. At least some populations of this species make annual migrations of over 200 km.

Arrives in southern breeding areas (Maine) near end of February (Cowger 1976). Birds breeding in Labrador and Greenland migrate to Newfoundland and farther south (Brown 1985).

In general, adult Razorbills mainly feed on mid-water schooling fish: capelin, sandlance (Ammodytes), herrings (Clupea harengus), sprats (Sprattus sprattus), and juvenile cod. However, the species of the fish vary regionally. Adult Razorbills wintering off Newfoundland feed mainly on crustaceans. In Labrador the diet of adult Razorbills early in the season is largely capelin, but after the chicks hatch the adult take only some capelin but large numbers of small Myxocephalus sculpins and euphausiids. (Nettleship & Birkhead, 1985)

For the chicks, the parents usually bring one to six fish at a meal. Only occasionally do they bring up to 20 fish. Yet, the number of fish brought in a meal decreases as their size increases. The parents hold the fish crosswise in the bill to feed the chicks. Average length of fish brought to chicks varies in different regions. Sandlances that were brought to chicks in Irish Sea colonies were 53-79mm, yet, in Labrador they were 137mm. The diet of young Razorbills after they leave the colony is not known. (Nettleship & Birkhead, 1985)

Primary Diet: carnivore (Piscivore )

Comments: Winter adult diet off Newfoundland mainly crustaceans, mainly fishes in Baltic. Summer adult diet in Labrador: capelin, sculpins, euphausiids. In southeastern Canada, chicks are fed fishes (mainly sandlance and capelin). Dives to at least 120 m (Piatt and Nettleship 1985).

Razorbills are carnivores (eating vertebrates) that are also eaten by other carnivores.

Most auk chicks are vulnerable to predation from gulls during fledging. Razorbill chicks fledging asynchronously, either fairly early in the morning or late in the evening, are not protected. Therefore, they were more likely to be killed by gulls than those fledging synchronously. In other words, Razorbill chicks fledging not at the same time/rate are easier prey for gulls. (Nettleship & Birkhead, 1985)

Razorbills provide relatively large nutritious eggs, high in fat, having larger yolks than those of most terrestrial birds, as a result, they are easily targeted by red fox, raven and other predators. (Gaston & Jones, 1998)

Note: For many non-migratory species, occurrences are roughly equivalent to populations.

Estimated Number of Occurrences: 21 - 300

Comments: Many small colonies, but a major portion of the global population (over 200,000) nest in one large colony at western tip of Iceland.

>1,000,000 individuals

Comments: World population was estimated at about 700,000 pairs by Nettleship and Evans (1985). Censuses during the 1970s and early 1980s yielded about 15,000 pairs breeding in Canada/New England. See Evans (1984) for population data from Greenland.

Annual adult survival in each of several areas was > 80%; usually 89% or more (Hudson 1985).

Razorbill chicks hatch at a weight of about 60g, and weight is directly correlated with egg size. They spend about 18 days at the breeding site. Chicks leave the colony around 18-23 days after hatching. By that time they are only partly grown and still flightless. They weigh between 140g and 180g when they leave the colony. (Wagner, 1999)

Range lifespan

Status: wild: 29.4 (high) years.

Average lifespan

Status: wild: 88 months.

Egg-laying for Razorbills start in the first week of May and laying continues until the first week of June. At higher latitudes, or where water temperatures are lower, laying is later. A female Razorbill can produce only one egg each season. Most breeding sites are enclosed or partially enclosed to protect the egg from predators. The single egg is usually laid directly on bare rock, but some parents would collect small stones, dried dropping, lichen or other bits of vegetation from the immediate surrounding area and place them where the egg will be laid. (Nettleship & Birkhead, 1985)

Before laying their eggs, at least half of the females leave their mates and sneak off to another ledge to copulate with other males. Then they come back and copulate with their mates on an average of 80 times in the 30 days before the laying of the first egg. Later, while their mates are safely occupied incubating their eggs, the females slip away again to the neighboring ledge for more copulation. The couplings are like auditions to see who is better and are probably important in pair formation. (Carely, 1993)

Range eggs per season: 1 (high) .

Average eggs per season: 1.

Key Reproductive Features: seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)

Average time to hatching: 36 days.

Average eggs per season: 1.

Incubation for some happens immediately after laying. Parents exchange incubation duty several times a day. After the chick hatched the parents would feed the chick with fish up to 20 fish at a time, but they usually bring one to six fish at a meal. (Nettleship & Birkhead, 1985)

Parental Investment: male parental care ; female parental care

Eggs are laid in May in Maine, June where seas are colder. Clutch size is 1. Incubation, by both sexes, averages 35-37 days. Single young is tended by both sexes, leaves for sea at average age of 17-19 days, tended by male for several weeks. In Wales, first breeds at 4-5 years.

After declining in the Gulf of St Lawrence during the 1970s, the species increased in the 1980s and is probably now as abundant as it has been in this century. The population of Britain and Ireland increased from 1970-1985, yet, the extent of increase is not known. (Gaston & Jones, 1998)

US Migratory Bird Act: no special status

US Federal List: no special status

CITES: no special status

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern

Accidental visitor.

Least Concern.

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: N4B,N4N : N4B: Apparently Secure - Breeding, N4N: Apparently Secure - Nonbreeding

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N1B - Critically Imperiled

Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure

Reasons: Widely distributed, although the bulk of the world population breeds in a few colonies in Iceland. Despite historic declines, global population thought to be stable or increasing at present.

Global Short Term Trend: Relatively stable (=10% change)

Comments: Thought to be stable or increasing throughout major parts of range (Hipfner and Chapdelaine 2002). Hyslop and Kennedy (1992) indicated population increases in most areas of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and estuary between the 1970s and 1990. Populations increased in the Gulf of St. Lawrence region in the 1980s according to Chapdelaine and Brousseau (1992). Recolonization continues in Gulf of Maine as population increases (Podolsky 1989, Mawhinney and Sears 1996).

Global Long Term Trend: Decline of 30-70%

Comments: Hunting, egging and persecution have caused marked reductions in populations, but there have been no large-scale changes to range over historical period (Hipfner and Chapdelaine 2002). Gulf of St. Lawrence populations have declined over long term (Nettleship and Evans 1985).

Comments: Populations in Greenland may be impacted by hunting and salmon netting (Evan 1984). On islands off Labrador, breeding populations were eliminated or reduced by colonizing arctic foxes (Birkhead and Nettleship 1995).

Management Requirements: See Evans and Nettleship (1985) for management recommendations.

Management Research Needs: See Evans and Nettleship (1985) for research recommendations.

Ornithologists are studying the sexual behaviors among razorbills. They are/very likely to use Razorbill as a model to study avian mating behavior. (Carey, 1993)

Positive Impacts: research and education

Comments: Hunted on breeding grounds in Greenland (Evans 1984).