Your Friends The Razorbills

You may be wondering what the small, omnipresent black-and-white birds on the Explore Puffin Loafing Ledge cam are. We’d like to introduce you to our friends the razorbills, who are part of the puffin (Alcid) family! Interestingly enough, there are only ten pairs of razorbills currently nesting on Seal Island — but we’ve been seeing them almost as frequently as puffins on the Ledge Cam. And puffins are far more prevalent than razorbills on the island — there are over 550 pairs nesting on Seal, making it the largest colony in America!

Steve Kress, Project Puffin founder, speculates that the razorbills are moving about much more than usual due to some early June storms that flooded their colony on Matinicus Rock. We’ll be keeping an eye on these birds over the course of the summer and we’d really appreciate your feedback. Comment below if you see the razorbills doing something interesting!