Mystery egg

I made my first trip of the year to the Farne Islands last week.  I was with friends so I didn't take a big camera, which was liberating as I already have more than enough puffin photos, etc.  However, I did put the little Panasonic TZ90 in my pocket in case we saw anything unusual and it came in handy when we saw this.

The kittiwake was standing staring at the egg as if unsure what to do.

The mystery was explained by a National Trust warden.  The egg was laid by a razorbill in the kittiwake's nest in error. The razorbill wasn't allowed back to the egg and the standoff had been going on for two days.  By then the egg was probably non-viable but the kittiwake hadn't worked out how to get rid of it so it could lay its own (two) eggs.

Bird of the week - Razorbill

Razorbills spend most of their lives at sea but visit land in the spring to raise their young.  These photos were taken on the cliffs at Dunstanburgh Castle.

The razorbill has a curious layer of feathers under the leading edge of its wings.  I presume this is an adaptation to underwater swimming rather than flight.

I couldn't see many chicks from the top of the cliff.  This one was closely guarded by its parents.

Thomas Bewick wrote about the razor-bill (Alca torda) in A History of British Birds, vol II, published in 1832.  In his day there was no digital photography so, if you wanted a closer look at a bird, you had to shoot it.

Razorbill eggs were a valuable food source at that time although guillemot eggs were more frequently taken.

Eggs of razorbills and other birds were still being collected from the cliffs 100 years ago.

You can watch a film made before the First World War of "climmers" on the cliffs at Flamborough Head on the Yorkshire Film Archive here.  Razorbills and their eggs are still hunted and harvested in Iceland.

Razorbills are found on northern and western coasts of the British Isles and of Europe.

Razorbills make a curious groaning or growling noise which you can hear here.  Listen to the BBC Radio 4 Tweet of the Day on razorbills here.

Bird of the week - Razorbill

Razor Bill sounds like Sweeney Todd's accomplice.  Razorbills (Alca torda) are much less numerous than puffins and guillemots on the Farne Islands with only 500 pairs - less than 1% of the UK breeding population.  Like puffins and guillemots, razorbills spend most of their lives at sea, only coming ashore to breed.  They pair for life and share duties of brooding the egg and feeding the chick.

I find the razorbill very difficult to photograph.  The very dark eye surrounded by very dark plumage is almost always in shade making it hard to get the eye catchlight that brings a photo to life.

Listen to the BBC Radio 4 Tweet of the Day on razorbills here.