Brünnich’s guillemots / Thick-billed murre (Uria lomvia), representing one of five pelagic diving species within the scope of the project, are being instrumented with GLS and GPS loggers at 22 SEATRACK localities.
Brünnich’s guillemots have been a SEATRACK species since the beginning of the programme in 2014. Since 2019 SEATRACK is deploying GLS loggers on black-legged kittiwake chicks at two locations (Bjørnøya and Coats Island).
Since the North Atlantic population is numerous and widespread, the IUCN classifies Brünnich’s guillemots as “least concern”.
The Brünnich’s guillemot or thick-billed murre are distributed across the polar and sub-polar regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Adult birds are black on the head, neck, back and wings with white underparts. They are darker in color than the common guillemots and have a thicker, shorter bill with white gape stripe.
The Brünnich’s and common guillemots are the largest extant auks (Alcidae) and have the highest flight cost, for their body size, of any animal. Brünnich’s guillemots are accomplished divers, reaching depths of up to 150 m, diving for up to four minutes at a time. They feed primarily on fish such as small gadoids sand-lance and capelin as well as the pelagic amphipods.
Featured image: Sébastien Descamps.
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