Biometrics as a determinant of the origins of seabirds killed in oil spills and other incidents

• Published in: Bird Conservation International
• Main Authors: Barrett, Robert T., Anker-Nilssen, Tycho, Bakken, Vidar, Strøm, Hallvard, Krasnov, Yuri, Aarvak, Tomas
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2008
• Subjects: brünnich's guillemot; Uria aalge; uria
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0959270908000233; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0959270908000233

Abstract Common Guillemots Uria aalge and Brünnich's Guillemots U. lomvia are common victims of oil spills, drowning in fishing nets and winter wrecks. Because the Norwegian population of Common Guillemots is classified as critically endangered and the Russian population of the Brünnich's Guillemot has declined greatly, it is important to be able to identify the origins of birds killed outside the breeding season. Measurements of birds made in nine colonies in the Barents and Norwegian Seas showed that although it is impossible to determine with reasonable accuracy the colony of origin from body measurements, the most likely sea of origin of Common Guillemots may be determined on the basis of wing and head + bill lengths, whereas there was no systematic variation in any measurement of Brünnich's Guillemots.