Razorbill

Voice

Almost always silent at sea. At the colony a low, grating growl, orrrr or arr-arr, rising out of rock crevices and from under boulders and swelling into a gurgling background murmur when dozens call at once. Audible from April to July at cliffs in Scotland, Norway and Iceland; in Dutch waters the bird stays mute.

Identification

Upperparts jet black, clearly darker than the chocolate-brown of a Guillemot, with a deep, laterally flattened bill that ends bluntly. In summer a white vertical band crosses the bill and a thin white line runs from the bill base to the eye. The tail is long and pointed and often cocked on the water; in flight it projects beyond the feet, whereas in Guillemot the feet project beyond the tail. In winter throat and cheek turn white to behind the eye, without any dark cheek stripe. In flight: fast whirring beats low over the sea, a white trailing edge to the inner wing, a white flank patch and a white underwing. First-years have a smaller bill without the white band.

Confusion species

Common Guillemot is the standing confusion species: browner, slimmer, with a pointed dagger bill and, in winter, a dark line running back across the white cheek. Atlantic Puffin in winter shows a grey face, a short deep bill and above all a dark underwing, where Razorbill and Guillemot flash white. Little Auk is barely half the size, with a tiny bill and a blunt, bull-necked head. Brünnich's Guillemot, a rarity, is bulkier than Common Guillemot and shows a pale stripe along the base of the bill.

Habitat

Outside the breeding season wholly marine, over the shallow continental shelf where it dives for sandeels, herring and sprat. Breeds in rock crevices, under boulders and on sheltered ledges, not on the open ledges where Guillemots stand shoulder to shoulder. Wintering birds come close inshore during spells of persistent west to north-west wind.

Range and movements

Breeds in Iceland, the Faroes, Norway, Britain, Ireland and the western Baltic. The Netherlands has no breeding pairs, but Razorbills are regular on the North Sea from October to March, turning up on seawatches and in beached-bird surveys. In Spain it winters along the Cantabrian and Galician coasts and in the Bay of Biscay, in smaller numbers into the Mediterranean.

• Resident
• Breeding (summer)
• Winter
• Passage
• dark = core range, pale = thinly spread

Where and when to look

Seawatch in a firm north-westerly gale between November and February, from Westkapelle, the Brouwersdam or Camperduin, and count the first hour after sunrise: Razorbills pass low in small loose parties on fast beats. A ferry crossing of the southern North Sea in calm weather gives far better views, letting you compare head and bill with Guillemots sitting on the water. In every party, watch for birds flying higher and more directly than Guillemots and for the white flank patch flashing as they bank.

Conservation status

Not threatened; European numbers have grown in recent decades in Britain, Iceland and Scandinavia. Bycatch in gillnets, oil pollution and the collapse of sandeel stocks remain the main risks, and in some winters prolonged storms wreck large numbers of exhausted birds onto beaches. Avian influenza in 2022 mainly struck other seabirds, but caused local Razorbill mortality too.