Brunnich's Guillemot
Uria lomvia

f6.3 @ 1/2000s, ISO:1600, Nikon D3S w 300mm


"Thick-billed Murre," Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.The thick-billed murre or Brunnich's guillemot is a bird in the auk family (Alcidae). Since the extinction of the great auk in the mid-19th century, the murres are the largest living members of the Alcidae.Adult birds are black on the head, neck, back and wings with white underparts. The bill is long and pointed. They have a small rounded black tail. The lower face becomes white in winter. This species produces a variety of harsh cackling calls at the breeding colonies, but is silent at sea.Thick-billed murres form vast breeding colonies, sometimes composed of over a million breeding birds, on narrow ledges and steep cliffs which face the water. They have the smallest territory of any bird requiring less than one square foot per individual. A breeding pair will lay a single egg each year.Despite this, they are one of the most abundant marine birds in the Northern Hemisphere.
Alkefjellet, Svalbard, Norway
 
08/03/2013