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Auks
Auks or alcids are birds of the family Alcidae in the order Charadriiformes. The alcid family includes the murres, guillemots, auklets, puffins, and murrelets. The family contains 25 extant or recently extinct species that are divided into 11 genera. Auks are found throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Apart from the extinct great auk, all auks can fly, and are excellent swimmers and divers (appearing to "fly" in water), but their walking appears clumsy. Names Several species have different English names in Europe and North America. The two species known as "murres" in North America are called "guillemots" in Europe, and the species called little auk in Europe is referred to as dovekie in North America. Etymology The word "auk" is derived from Icelandic ''álka'' and Norwegian ''alka'' or ''alke'' from Old Norse ''ālka'' from Proto-Germanic *''alkǭ'' (sea-bird, auk). Taxonomy The family name Alcidae comes from the genus '' Alca'' given by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Auk
The great auk (''Pinguinus impennis''), also known as the penguin or garefowl, is an Extinction, extinct species of flightless bird, flightless auk, alcid that first appeared around 400,000 years ago and Bird extinction, became extinct in the mid-19th century. It was the only modern species in the genus ''Pinguinus''. It was not closely related to the Penguin, penguins of the Southern Hemisphere, which were named for their resemblance to this species. It bred on rocky, remote islands with easy access to the ocean and a plentiful food supply, a rarity in nature that provided only a few breeding sites for the great auks. During the non-breeding season, the auk foraged in the waters of the North Atlantic, ranging as far south as northern Spain and along the coastlines of Canada, Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Norway, Ireland, and Great Britain. The bird was tall and weighed about , making it the largest alcid to survive into the modern era, and the second-largest member ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alca Torda
The razorbill (''Alca torda'') is a North Atlantic colonial seabird and the only extant member of the genus '' Alca'' of the family Alcidae, the auks. It is the closest living relative of the extinct great auk (''Pinguinus impennis''). Historically, it has also been known as "auk", "razor-billed auk" and "lesser auk". Razorbills are primarily black with a white underside. The male and female are identical in plumage; however, males are generally larger than females. This agile bird, which is capable of both flight and diving, has a predominantly aquatic lifestyle and only comes to land in order to breed. It is monogamous, choosing one partner for life. Females lay one egg per year. Razorbills nest along coastal cliffs in enclosed or slightly exposed crevices. The parents spend equal amounts of time incubating, and once the chick has hatched, they take turns foraging for their young. Presently, this species faces major threats, including the destruction of breeding sites, oil sp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thick-billed Murre
The thick-billed murre or Brünnich's guillemot (''Uria lomvia'') is a bird in the auk family (Alcidae). This bird is named after the Danish zoologist Morten Thrane Brünnich. The very deeply black North Pacific subspecies ''Uria lomvia arra'' is also called Pallas' murre after its describer. Taxonomy The thick-billed murre was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it with the other auks in the genus '' Alca'' and coined the binomial name ''Alca lomvia''. Linnaeus specified the type locality as boreal Europe but this was restricted in 1921 to Greenland by the German ornithologist Ernst Hartert. The thick-billed murre is now placed together with the common murre in the genus '' Uria'' that was introduced in 1760 by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''ouria'', a waterbird mentioned by Athenaeus. The specific epithet ''lomvia'' is a Swedish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parakeet Auklet
The parakeet auklet (''Aethia psittacula'') is a small seabird of the North Pacific. Parakeet Auklets used to be placed on its own in the genus ''Cyclorrhynchus'' ( Kaup, 1829) but recent morphological and genetic evidence suggest it should be placed in the genus ''Aethia'', making them closely related to crested auklets and least auklets. It is associated with the boreal waters of Alaska, Kamchatka and Siberia. It breeds on the cliffs, slopes and boulder fields of offshore islands, generally moving south during the winter. Description The parakeet auklet is a small (23 cm) auk with a short orange bill that is upturned to give the bird its curious fixed expression. The upward bend of the beak has been observed to provide advantages in picking up small food pieces from the sea bottom as well as in assisting in the disintegration of larger food objects. The bird's plumage is dark above and white below. with a single white plume projecting back from the eye. There is a small a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Razorbill
The razorbill (''Alca torda'') is a North Atlantic colonial seabird and the only extant member of the genus ''Alca (bird), Alca'' of the family Alcidae, the auks. It is the closest living relative of the extinct great auk (''Pinguinus impennis''). Historically, it has also been known as "auk", "razor-billed auk" and "lesser auk". Razorbills are primarily black with a white underside. The male and female are identical in plumage; however, males are generally larger than females. This agile bird, which is capable of both flight and diving, has a predominantly aquatic lifestyle and only comes to land in order to breed. It is Monogamy in animals, monogamous, choosing one partner for life. Females lay one egg per year. Razorbills nest along coastal cliffs in enclosed or slightly exposed crevices. The parents spend equal amounts of time incubating, and once the chick has hatched, they take turns foraging for their young. Presently, this species faces major threats, including the dest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aethia
''Aethia'' is a genus of four small (85–300g) auklets Endemism, endemic to the North Pacific Ocean, Bering Sea and Sea of Okhotsk and among some of North America's most abundant seabirds. The relationships between the four true auklets remains unclear. Auklets are threatened by invasive species such as Norway rats (''Rattus norvegicus'') because of their high degree of coloniality and crevice-nesting. Taxonomy and evolution The genus ''Aethia'' occurs only in the North Pacific and adjacent waters, mainly in the Bering Sea region. Along with Cassin's auklet (''Ptychoramphus aleuticus'') they comprise the monophyly, monophyletic tribe Aethinii. Molecular work has not yet resolved the relationship between the ''Aethia'' auklets, but the group is a sister group to Cassin's auklet, which is, in turn, a sister group to the Fraterculine auks (puffins and rhinoceros auklet). The genus ''Aethia'' did not enter into widespread use until the 1960s. Initially, the auklets were placed i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
