![\"\"](\"https:\/\/birdfinding.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/GreatAuk2.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a9 Mike Pennington<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t Birdfinding.info \u21d2<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 The last report of a Great Auk<\/strong> that is generally accepted as valid was a sighting from a fishing vessel on the Grand Banks east of Newfoundland in December 1852.\u00a0 The last specimens had been collected eight years earlier, reportedly a pair defending an egg (possibly the very last egg) at Eldey Rock, Iceland, on June 3, 1844.\u00a0 These final encounters marked the end of a centuries-long campaign in which the fishermen and explorers of several European nations collaborated in the annihilation of a recently abundant, but vulnerable species.\u00a0 As T. Parkin aptly remarked in 1894, \u201cIt never appears to have entered into the calculations of the earlier generations of Great Auks that, sooner or later, evolution would produce a race of sailors to whom no flat coasts would be impregnable.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t Great Auk \u2020<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t Pinguinus impennis<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t Family: Alcidae<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t Extinct.\u00a0 Formerly bred on North Atlantic islets and dispersed to adjacent waters.<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t Inferred historical distribution of the Great Auk with last known colony sites marked as black dots. \u00a0\u00a9 BirdLife International 2021<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t Breeding.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 Nested in large colonies from May to July.\u00a0 At least eight locations were active in historical times: three in Canada, one in Greenland, two in Iceland, and two on outlying European islands.<\/p> Funk Island, east of Newfoundland, supported ~10,000 pairs at the time of its discovery by modern Europeans, likely the majority of the world population at that time.\u00a0 Other confirmed Canadian colony sites were Penguin Island (named for the Great Auk) and Bird Rocks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.<\/p> The Greenland site, Paamiut, was not confirmed with direct evidence of nesting, but the circumstantial evidence of a population in southwestern Greenland is strong and centers on Paamiut.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t The last known nest was on Eldey, beside the southwestern coast of Iceland, in 1844.\u00a0 The local population had previously bred nearby on Geirfuglasker, but relocated after a volcanic eruption in 1830 submerged it.\u00a0 A second confirmed Icelandic colony site was in the Westmann Islands.<\/p> Although fossil evidence indicates that it likely bred prehistorically at numerous sites along European coasts from Norway to France\u2014and possibly south to Spain and even east to Italy\u2014the last two certain European colony sites were in the Faeroes and St. Kilda, Scotland.<\/p> Nonbreeding.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 Evidently wintered at sea in the latitudes of its breeding colonies and also much farther south\u2014although, as a flightless bird, it was limited to swimmable distances.\u00a0 According to J. J. Audubon, it was seen regularly in winter along the coast of Massachusetts in the 1700s.<\/p> Great Auk bones have been recovered from middens (i.e., accumulated food scrap piles of prehistorical human populations) as far south as Florida and Gibraltar, and on Sicily and the southeastern coast of Italy (Otranto).\u00a0 These are generally interpreted as evidence of migration from more northerly breeding sites\u2014although this remains conjectural, as the alternative explanations of local breeding populations and human transport cannot be ruled out.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t Identification<\/strong><\/span><\/p> The original \u201cpenguin\u201d was an enormous, flightless version of its closest surviving relative, the Razorbill<\/strong><\/a>, sharing the same general body-plan, coloration, pattern, and long-but-tall, laterally compressed bill.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t Great Auk eating a fish.\u00a0 (The Birds of Europe<\/em>, vol. 5 pl. 55.)\u00a0 John Gould<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t It was about the size of a goose, 4 to 5 kg, and stood upright on land at 75-85 cm tall, with small vestigial wings.<\/p> Its remarkable bill measured approximately 82-90 mm long and 40-46 mm deep (i.e., tall), colored black, but with six or seven vertical whitish grooves on the outer half.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Great_Auk_(Pinguinis_impennis)_specimen,_Kelvingrove,_Glasgow_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1108249.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
![\u00a9 Knoff<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe upperparts were all-black except that breeding adults had a large white oval on the side of the forehead, between the eye and the bill.\u00a0 Nonbreeding adults more closely matched the Razorbill\u2019s plumage pattern.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNotes<\/strong><\/span><\/p>Monotypic species.<\/p>IUCN Red List Status: Extinct<\/strong>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tReferences<\/strong><\/span><\/p>BirdLife International. 2021. Pinguinus impennis<\/em>. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021:<\/em> e.T22694856A205919631. https:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.2305\/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T22694856A205919631.en<\/a>. (Accessed January 3, 2022.)<\/p>Gaston, A.J., and I.L. Jones. 1998. The <\/em>Auks: Alcidae.<\/em> Oxford University Press.<\/p>Hume, J.P. 2017. Extinct Birds (Second Edition)<\/em>. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, London.<\/p>Meldgaard, M. 1988. The Great Auk, Pinguinus impennis<\/em> (L.) in Greenland. Historical Biology<\/em> 1:145-178.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a9 Mike Pennington Birdfinding.info \u21d2\u00a0 The last report of a Great Auk that is generally accepted as valid was a sighting from a fishing vessel on the Grand Banks east of Newfoundland in December 1852.\u00a0 The last specimens had been collected eight years earlier, reportedly a pair defending an egg (possibly the very last egg) 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