The Razorbill Alca torda By: Lynne Scientific Classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Charadriforms Family: Alcidae Genus: Alca Species: torda

Natural History

A bird is a great consumer in the ecosystem. They have been ever since dinosaurs ruled the earth. The species Aves has a very large range of prey; they will eat almost anything from little bugs and plants to road kill. This means that a lot of birds are carnivorous scavengers.
When dinosaurs ruled the earth, birds were a lot like reptiles that could fly, with wings that acted like parachutes.

Over the years they have adapted to their habitat. They are still adapting to their habitats, because habitats often change due to things like development, oil spills, or pollution.

The bird is a warm-blooded animal. A birds body temperature will stay the same even when the temperature of the ecosystem changes. Birds body temperature is only a little higher than the average human’s.

Aves is the class which all birds belong to. This means that if you were a bird you would have all of the following characteristics: wings, a beak or a bill, and feathers all over your body. Feathers help keep birds warm and in most cases they repel water. Birds also have a backbone, so they are invertebrates and they are members of the Phylum Chordata. Birds also have light bones that are hollow so they can fly. But some birds such as the loon have solid bones.

Birds have an extra organ in their digestive system that humans do not have. It is called the gizzard. This organ grinds the food up for the bird because they do not have any teeth.

The razorbill is a penguin- or puffin-like animal that is about the size of a duck. The razorbill’s bill looks like an old fashioned straight razor and that is how it got its name, the razorbill.
 
Habitat

Razorbills are seabirds all season long. During their breeding season they live in crevices in and next to boulders, and on rocks and cliffs next to a water source. When they build their nest, they build it next to the water because they live in and their chicks have to have immediate access to the sea.

Colonies of razorbills can be found on cliffs and offshore islands such as Machias Seal Island in Maine. In winter they are in coastal and shallow seas.

Present Status

The razorbill is a threatened species in Maine.

Physical Description

The razorbill is very heavily built with an unusually long tail. They are 40-47 cm, about the size of a duck. Razorbills have 2 white horizontal stripes on their bill and 1 vertical stripe. The line on their bill is not as bold in the winter as it is in all of the other seasons. They have a yellow lining on their mouth.

The underparts of a razorbill are white including the under- wing and stomach. The legs and feet are black, as is the neck head, and eye which makes it hard to see that they even have eyes at all. During the winter, the throat, sides of the neck, and face behind the eyes are white. This is also the coloration of the razorbill during breeding season.

Diet and Feeding Habits

The razorbill eats many different small fish, marine invertebrates, and crustaceans; the size of the fish varies in different regions. The adult razorbills eat different mid-water schooling fish such as sprats and young cod. The diversity of the fish varies in different parts of the country.

Unlike some species the razorbill takes care of their chicks and feeds them well. They are known to feed them 1-6 small fish a day and on occasion 20 fish a day!

When the razorbill’s size increases, the amount of fish they eat a day decreases. When their mother is feeding them she would hold the fish crosswise in her mouth and then let the chicks eat the small fish she had captured.

Causes of Animal’s Present Status

In the mid-1800’s the razorbill was extirpated on the coast of Maine. They have come a long way from then, and now they are only threatened. One of the reasons why their present status has been raised is that three small islands have been recolonized, and there are about 100 breeding pairs spread out among those three islands. One of them is Machias Seal Island.

Just because the size of the razorbill’s population has increased and they are now a threatened species, does not mean it is o.k. People have destroyed the razorbills habitat with oil and that is how they became extirpated in the first place. So we have to be careful.

If the pattern that the razorbill’s present status has been following continues, then they might soon become a species of concern. Then if we are extremely lucky they will have a large population and plenty of different habitats.

Personal Essay

*~*What is the value of wilderness to modern society?*~*

I think that wilderness is very important to modern society. Almost everything humans depend on comes from the wilderness or needs something from the wilderness in order to grow. If we didn’t value wilderness, then we would all be sick and dying because we wouldn’t have herbs and plants for medicine. We wouldn’t be very healthy either because we wouldn’t have the right balance of nutrition because all of the animals that we depend on for food would becoming extinct because they need water and food to live and those come from the wilderness.

I value wilderness very much because without it, my life would be very different. I couldn’t eat much. I’m not even sure if I could survive. I am very glad that we have the wilderness not just so I can live, but so the animals can live a good life, also.

I think that probably everyone values and needs wilderness, so if everyone cleans up after themselves when they are at the beach or park ,then there wouldn’t be so much trash all over the place. Then the animals and plants wouldn’t die because there wouldn’t be any trash for them to eat or choke on. If we actually started doing that, I think the animals and humans could keep on living a good life.

Razorbill
By: Josh Smith

The razorbill is interesting
in each and every way
Fish, crustaceans, invertebrates
consist of this bird’s prey
It’s bill has a yellow line
it’s eyes are black as night
It’s feet and legs are also black
it’s underparts are white
This bird can be found in Maine
mainly by the sea
They nest on cliffs and rocks
and nest in colonies.

Bibliography

1. Alca torda. 31 July 2002. animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/a/ca/a._torda.html. (April 3 2003)

2. Razorbill.  www.yptenc.org.uk/docs/factsheet/anima_facts/razorbill.html. (2/5/2003)

3. Razorbill Alca torda.  www.mbrpwrc.usgs.gov/id/framist/i03/oic.html  (4/3/03)

4. Razorbill.  birds.cornell.edu/bow/razorb/  (April 3 2003)

5.Watkins,Patricia et al.Life Science. Orlando, Florida. 1989.

6. Wack, Kevin. “Taking Sides”. Portland Press Herald. 4/13/03.