Razorbill

How to recognise it

• Black head and upperparts, white breast and belly, male and female look alike
• Short, deep, blunt black bill with a clear white band across it
• White line from bill base to eye, and a long tail for an auk
• In winter plumage the chin, cheek and parts of the head are white

Call and song

The Razorbill is a fairly quiet auk. In the breeding colonies it gives a deep, grating "urrr".

Where and when

In Sweden it breeds on cliffs and rocky outer skerries, mainly in the Baltic from Gotland and northern Småland to Ångermanland, and in north-west Skåne and Bohuslän. Stora Karlsö off Gotland is the largest colony in the Baltic, with 12 000 pairs in 2014 to 2015. It is reported most in October and November. Its share of all bird reports is highest in Gotland, Kalmar and Blekinge.

Food and behaviour

It often feeds in larger estuaries with lower salinity. Flight is straight with fast, whirring wingbeats, and it sits upright on land. The female lays one egg on a cliff ledge. After 17 to 23 days the chick jumps and the male follows it to sea.