Observations on a colony of Bruennich's guillemots Uria lomvia in Spitsbergen

• Published in: Ibis
• Main Author: Pennycuick, Colin J
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 1956
• Subjects: Uria lomvia; Spitsbergen; uria
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1983/203fa6bb-102a-4d84-9e43-a510c4009826; https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/203fa6bb-102a-4d84-9e43-a510c4009826; https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1474-919X.1956.tb03031.x

1 A colony of about 500 pairs of Brünnich's Guillemots was watched between 23 July and 20 August 1954, i.e. over the fledging period. 2 The calls of adults and chicks, and the situations in which they are used, are described. 3 Fights were very frequent, but not between established neighbours, who were often touching one another when brooding. 4 The behaviour pattern used when the chick leaves the cliff, in which both adults and young become very excited, often miscarries, leading to protracted mobbing of the chick on the water. 5 The behaviour of non-breeding birds is described, and the reasons for their presence are discussed. 6 The flight characteristics of the bird, and its special techniques for landing and taking off from vertical cliffs are described. 7 Predation was slight. 8 A method of measuring activity is described. It was found that there was no diurnal rhythm of activity, and that the interval between feeds remained roughly constant throughout the period of observation. 9 Inadequate results were obtained with a method for estimating the proportion of non-breeders in the colony.