Great Auk

The Great Auk, a flightless seabird, was once widespread in the waters and islands of the North Atlantic. It was the only flightless species among modern auk family. The Great Auk and the extant Razorbill are evolutionary relatives. They both belonged to a single lineage distributed across the Atlantic during ancient times, and by the early Pliocene, they had each adapted to different environmental niches¹.

The Great Auk measured about 75 to 80 centimeters in length, making it the largest modern species in the auk family². Males and females looked alike, with black backs, white bellies, and heads and necks tinged with brown. They had small heads and streamlined bodies. The Great Auk’s plumage and body shape were remarkably similar to those of penguins, despite being unrelated, a prime example of convergent evolution. It had a hard, long beak with white grooves arranged diagonally, and oval white patches in front of its eyes. During the winter molt, its throat feathers turned white and the eye patches became thinner and lighter³. The Great Auk’s wings were short and highly reduced, darker than its body, and brown in color. Its feet were webbed and black.

Although clumsy on land, the Great Auk was an adept swimmer and diver. It inhabited the high-latitude waters of the North Atlantic, spending most of the year at sea, diving to catch fish. The Great Auk only came ashore to breed in the summer. They did not build nests; instead, they laid eggs directly on rocks, typically at the base of coastal cliffs. The Great Auk had specific breeding requirements, usually preferring isolated North Atlantic islands far from the mainland, with rocky shores suitable for laying eggs and accessing the sea. During the breeding season, they were highly social, with each pair producing one egg per season.

Humans have hunted the Great Auk for a very long time; indigenous peoples hunted them over a hundred thousand years ago. However, their decline towards extinction truly began during the Age of Exploration. Increased human activity in the North Atlantic and systematic commercial slaughter expanded. The Great Auk was hunted extensively for its meat, oil, feathers, and eggs. As their population declined, collectors’ demand for their skins and eggs increased, leading to intensified hunting.

By the late 18th century, the Great Auk had disappeared from breeding sites on the North American side of the Atlantic, and those in European waters gradually vanished too. The last groups migrated to remote islands near Iceland, where they were eventually hunted to extinction by humans in the mid-19th century.

The last confirmed sighting of a Great Auk was on June 3, 1844, on Eldey Island, Iceland, where three men killed a pair of Great Auks ⁴ incubating an egg for a bounty⁵. Later reports indicated that four Great Auks were sighted in April 1848 in the waters off East Finnmark, Norway, with one being shot but its remains lost to the sea⁶. An unconfirmed sighting occurred on December 1852 on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, Canada⁷.

Appearance #

• The upper body and head are black, with large white patches in front of the eyes during summer. The eyes are very small, with hazel irises⁸.
• It had a large, hard black beak with several grooves, and the inside of the beak was orange-red.
• The upper neck was black like the head but slightly brownish, while the belly was white.
• The wings were highly reduced, very small in size, with black feathers. The secondary feathers were white, and the side abdomen near the wings often appeared brown.
• The upper tail coverts were black, and the lower tail coverts were white.
• The feet were webbed, black, with small claws.
• During the winter molt, the black of the front neck and chin gradually turned white, and the white patches around the eyes became lighter, eventually being replaced by black.

The Great Auk exhibited no sexual dimorphism. Some existing female specimens have a gray band on their sides, which some believe is unique to females⁹. Studies on Great Auk skeletons suggest that males might have been slightly larger, but this difference appears to be minimal¹⁰.

The black back feathers of the Great Auk were described as “like black satin”¹¹.

The appearance of Great Auk chicks remains unknown¹².

Life History #

Breeding and Rearing #

It is generally believed that, like similar auk species, the Great Auk was monogamous for life. Many accounts mention the Great Auk shaking its head vigorously, which was likely a courtship display¹³. During the breeding season, Great Auks were highly social, forming large and crowded colonies¹⁴. Because they were flightless, they had specific requirements for their breeding sites, needing gentle sloping rocks near the sea for easier access from the water. They were never observed landing on the mainland. However, the number of observed modern breeding sites was still significantly fewer than the theoretically suitable ones, for reasons that remain unclear. It might have been due to unknown food or location needs, or pressure to avoid human hunters¹⁵.

Great Auks did not build nests; they laid their eggs directly on the surface of the island rocks, such as open rock ledges, crevices, or at the base of coastal cliffs. Their mating sites and behaviors are unknown, but it is likely similar to their close relative, the Razorbill, which mates after coming ashore, with nesting sites not far from mating sites. Descriptions indicate that Great Auk pairs would “courageously” protect their eggs even in the face of being captured¹⁶.

Both sexes had brood patches, suggesting that parents likely took turns incubating. Recent studies found that Great Auks had two brood patches instead of the previously thought one, indicating they likely incubated eggs while lying flat rather than the previously hypothesized semi-upright posture¹⁷. Great Auk eggs were pear-shaped with markings similar to ink sketches. The shape likely helped them remain stable on sloped surfaces, preventing them from rolling off exposed rocks, and the markings helped parents identify their eggs in densely packed colonies.

Great Auks were vulnerable on land and thus minimized their time there. Their incubation period was about 39 to 44 days, with reports of as short as 26 days¹⁸. In comparison, the closely related Razorbill, with a much smaller body and egg, takes 35 to 37 days to incubate¹⁹. Likewise, the Great Auk’s rearing period was very short, with both parents feeding the chick on land. It is likely that within two weeks, or even 10 days, the chick followed its parents into the water and drifted in the North Atlantic, possibly traveling hundreds of kilometers from the shore before being fully fledged²⁰.

When leaving the nest, Great Auk chicks weighed about 20% of an adult’s weight²¹. People have reported seeing Great Auk parents carrying their chicks into the sea on their backs²².

Diet #

The Great Auk primarily ate fish found in the shallow coastal waters of the North Atlantic, with a diet similar to today’s auk species in the region.

Naturalists who dissected Great Auks found their stomachs contained shorthorn sculpin (Myoxocephalus scorpius) and lumpsucker (Cyclopterus)²³. The shorthorn sculpin often inhabits benthic zones, suggesting that the Great Auk likely had the ability to dive deep to catch fish.

Modern scientific analysis of Great Auk bones and soil from Funk Island identified the presence of the following North Atlantic fish, likely part of their diet²⁴:

• Atlantic menhaden
• American shad
• Capelin
• Three-spined stickleback
• North American bass (Morone), possibly White perch or small Striped bass
• Flatfish

Studies suggest that Great Auk chicks might have fed on krill and other crustaceans, and that parents might have regurgitated food to feed their chicks, similar to many penguin species—another example of convergent evolution between these two unrelated species with similar appearances and vastly different fates²⁵. Dissections of Great Auk chicks have found Rhodiola, a plant growing on arctic rocks²³.

The last Great Auk in Ireland was kept alive in captive for four months²⁶. It was found to prefer eating trout and other freshwater fish over sea fish. It also enjoyed mashed potatoes soaked in milk²⁷.

A description of a live bird noted that a Great Auk could swallow a herring whole, and would eat three in succession to feel full¹¹.

Distribution #

Confirmed modern breeding sites of the Great Auk include the following locations²⁸:

• Funk Island, off the eastern tip of Newfoundland, Canada, Labrador Sea

This island was originally known as “Penguin,” this name was first given to the Great Auk and later to penguins²⁹.

Funk Island was the largest modern breeding site of the Great Auk. When Europeans arrived, tens of thousands of Great Auks were breeding there during the season, with estimates exceeding 100,000 pairs³⁰. By the beginning of the 19th century, Great Auks on Funk Island were nearly extinct.

In 1887, Frederick A. Lucas, then curator of the National Museum of Natural History in the United States, visited Funk Island. The expedition team found a large number of Great Auk remains in the island’s soil and excavated some of them. Nearly all museum collections of complete Great Auk skeletons come from Funk Island. Remains of iron pots, likely used to boil Great Auk bodies for easier feather removal, were also found in the upper soil layer. Frederick estimated that millions of Great Auks perished on Funk Island. The expedition also discovered that many Atlantic puffins (Fratercula arctica) nested on Funk Island, which had not been seen before the Great Auk’s extinction. It is speculated that the discarded bodies of Great Auks created a nutrient-rich soil suitable for puffin burrows³¹.

Scientists also found stone enclosures near the Great Auk breeding grounds on Funk Island, which were likely used to corral and slaughter the birds³².

One of Newfoundland’s early pioneers, British explorer George Cartwright(1739 - 1819), recorded the exploitation of Great Auks on Funk Island:

Innumerable flocks of sea fowl breed upon it every summer which are of great service to the poor inhabitants of Fogo; who make voyages there to load with birds and eggs… But it has been customary of late years for several crews of men to live all the summer on that island, for the sole purpose of killing birds for the sake of their feathers; the destruction which they have made is incredible. If a stop is not soon put to that practice the whole breed will be diminished to almost nothing, particularly the penguins: for this is now the only island they have left to breed upon. ³³

• Papa Westray Island, part of the Orkney Islands, northeastern Scotland

In 1813, a male Great Auk was killed on Papa Westray Island in the Orkney Islands. For several years prior, this Great Auk had been attempting to breed in the area with a female. They were known to locals as the “King and Queen of the Auks,”³⁴.

Other islands in the Orkney archipelago were thought to be suitable for Great Auk breeding, but no confirmed sightings were recorded. It is speculated that the two Great Auks seen on Papa Westray were strays from other breeding colonies³⁵.

• St Kilda, an archipelago in the North Atlantic west of Scotland

In July 1840, five fishermen from St Kilda captured a Great Auk sleeping on a rock ledge on Stac an Armin. They tied its feet with a rope and kept it in captivity. Three days later, during a storm, the frightened fishermen believed it might be a witch and stoned the Great Auk to death³⁶.

This was the last Great Auk recorded in the British Isles. Recent studies suggest this event might have occurred in 1848, rather than the previously thought 1840. If true, this would make it the last Great Auk in the world, instead of the pair killed in 1844 on Eldey Island³⁷.

Although there are early documented records of Great Auk breeding colonies on St Kilda, many aspects remain unclear because the island’s coastal areas are steep and seem unsuitable for Great Auk landings³⁸.

• Geirfuglasker and Eldey Island, off the southwestern coast of Iceland

Geirfuglasker, near the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland, was one of the last refuges of the Great Auk. The island was surrounded by turbulent waters, making human access difficult. In 1813, during the War of the Sixth Coalition, when Denmark was allied with France and opposed to Britain, a Danish ship searching food around Iceland landed on Geirfuglasker and killed a large number of Great Auks³⁹.

In 1830, an underwater volcanic eruption and subsequent earthquakes caused Geirfuglasker to sink below sea level, forcing the Great Auks to move to Eldey Island, which was more accessible to humans.

On June 3, 1844, two Great Auks incubating an egg were killed on Eldey Island, and the egg was broken. This is generally considered the last two Great Auks on Earth.

Other islands around Iceland also had sporadic records of Great Auk breeding, with Grímsey Island in the north being notable⁴⁰.

• Bird Rock (Rochers aux Oiseaux), Magdalen Islands, Quebec, Canada, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, near Newfoundland

Great Auk breeding colonies were observed here from the 16th to the 17th centuries. There were still sizeable colonies in the late 17th century, but by 1700, this breeding colony had disappeared, with most individuals likely migrating to Funk Island⁴¹.

It is speculated that the Great Auk population here migrated from Penguin Island near Cape La Hune on the southern side of Newfoundland. This breeding site seems to have been abandoned earlier, but the name indicates it was once a breeding ground for Great Auks⁴².

Other potential North American breeding sites for Great Auks include Cape Cod in Massachusetts and areas near Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, Canada. They were also sighted in Labrador⁴³.

• (?) Faroe Islands, an archipelago in the North Atlantic, north of the British Isles and east of Iceland, currently an autonomous territory of Denmark

There have been sporadic records of Great Auk sightings and captures in the Faroe Islands, the last being in July 1808⁴⁴. However, there was never a large breeding colony of Great Auks here, nor were there confirmed egg-laying sites. It is speculated that the Great Auks appearing in the Faroe Islands were immature birds arriving from North America via ocean currents. These birds likely escaped the massacres at Funk Island but instinctively attempted to return to breed, using the Faroe Islands as a stopover⁴⁵.

The term “Northern Penguin” for the Great Auk is based on early European naturalists’ misconceptions, incorrectly suggesting that the Great Auk inhabited the Arctic. There is no reliable evidence that the Great Auk’s modern range included the Arctic Circle. In 1821, there was a report of a Great Auk being captured on Disko Island in Greenland, which is the northernmost known occurrence of the Great Auk. However, the reliability of this record is highly questionable⁴⁶. Early Eskimo settlements in Qeqertasussuk, Greenland, have also unearthed Great Auk fossils⁴⁷. While the Great Auk’s presence in the southern edge of the Arctic Circle is undeniable, it is difficult to say they had a stable habitat and breeding ground there.

The Great Auk’s prehistoric range was broader than the modern records indicate, extending to lower latitudes. In North America, 14th-century Great Auk bones have been found in Florida⁴⁸. In Southern Europe and North Africa, Holocene Great Auk fossils have been unearthed in Iberia, the Gibraltar region, and countries like Spain, Italy, France, and Morocco, dating back several thousand years BC. These fossils often show evidence of human hunting and butchering, indicating that early humans were already hunting Great Auks⁴⁹.

Further north, there are numerous records of Great Auk fossils found outside their modern range, such as in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark on the Scandinavian Peninsula. The Norwegian population possibly survived until after AD 1000, with their range extending east to Finnmark bordering Russia⁵⁰. The Dutch coast also had Great Auk populations as late as the Roman Empire⁵¹.

It can be concluded that the Great Auk was once widely distributed across the Atlantic Ocean. Their migration patterns are unknown. Generally, they returned to the sea after breeding in the summer, following ocean currents to warmer regions in winter. Whether they had a migratory rhythm like other birds is unknown, as they were flightless and likely highly dependent on ocean currents⁵². Their populations began declining before recorded history due to climate change and human hunting. However, the impact of human hunting became more significant over time⁵³, with hunting pressure far exceeding the effects of climate change. Evidence suggests that Great Auk populations suffered a dramatic decline after the advent of the Iron Age⁵⁴.

Other #

There are no direct records of the natural lifespan and reproductive age of the Great Auk. Based on the Razorbill, it is estimated that their lifespan was about 20-25 years, with first breeding occurring at 4-7 years of age¹³.

Like similar birds such as the Razorbill, and based on limited observations of the Great Auk, their long, hard beaks were likely a secondary sexual characteristic used for courtship displays and a primary tool for communication within the group. There are records indicating that captive Great Auks would keep their beaks open, signaling a readiness to attack⁵⁵. The powerful beaks of Great Auks may have enabled them to easily crush the shells of their prey. One account from a hunt on Geirfuglasker mentions a desperate Great Auk biting a man’s forearm through a leather jacket, causing blood to flow down his sleeve⁵⁶.

In normal circumstances, the Great Auk’s call was a low murmur. Records show that captive Great Auks would raise their heads, shake their heads and necks, and make this sound to express a desire for food when being fed by humans⁵⁷. However, when threatened, the Great Auk could produce a very loud call, reportedly louder than the famously noisy Northern Gannet⁵⁵.

Great Auks were exceptionally skilled swimmers. Accounts describe them immediately diving underwater when frightened, rather than fleeing along the surface⁵⁸. In addition to their webbed feet, they used their reduced, flightless wings for propulsion and balance underwater, functioning similarly to fins⁵⁹. When capturing the last British specimen near Papa Westray Island, it was documented that it took several hours of chasing in a six-oared boat before before people gave up capturing or shooting it in the water⁶⁰.

Observers believed that Great Auks had poor vision on land but excellent hearing, being very sensitive to noise. It was also speculated that the misconception about their poor land vision might be due to people not recognizing those birds’ nictitating membranes⁶¹.

Confirmed diving depths for Great Auk hunting ranged from 50 to 100 meters. Based on their size and comparisons to similar species, they may have been capable of diving even deeper, possibly up to nearly 200 meters⁶².

Accounts #

• In 1534, French explorer Jacques Cartier was on his first voyage to North America. He was the first European to travel inland in North America, although his original mission from the King of France was to find a passage to the East. He observed Great Auks on “Bird Rock” in the Magdalen Islands of Quebec. This is one of the earliest records of the Great Auk.

  And the twenty-first day of the said month of May we departed from the said harbor with a west wind, and were borne to the north a quarter northeast from Cape Bonavista as far as to the Isle of Birds, the which island was all sur- rounded and inclosed by a bank of ice, rent and shattered in pieces. Notwithstanding the said bank, our two boats went to the said island in order to get some of the birds, of which there is so great a number that it is an incredible thing to one who does not see it; for, notwithstanding that the said island comprises about a league in circumference, it may be so very full of them that it seems as if one had stowed them there. There are a hundred times more of them round about it and in the air than within the island, of which a part of these birds are large as geese, black and white, and have a beak like a crow, and are always in the sea, without ever being able to fly in the air, forasmuch as they have little wings like the half of one, wherewith they fly as stoutly in the sea as the other birds do in the air, and these birds are so fat that it is a marvelous thing. We named these birds Apponatz⁶³ with which our two boats were loaded in less than half an hour, as it were with stones, wherefore each of our ships salted four or five butts ⁶⁴ of them, besides what we could eat of them fresh.

• In 1583, explorer Edward Haies joined Humphrey Gilbert’s fleet to the Newfoundland Islands and observed numerous Great Auks on Funk Island.

  Forsaking this bay and uncomfortable coast (nothing appearing unto us but hideous rocks and mountains, bare of trees, and void of any green herb) we followed the coast to the south, with weather fair and clear. We had sight of an island named Penguin²⁹, of a fowl there breeding in abundance almost incredible, which cannot fly, their wings not able to carry their body, being very large (not much less than a goose) and exceeding fat, which the Frenchmen use to take without difficulty upon that island, and to barrel them up with salt. But for lingering of time, we had made us there the like provision. ⁶⁵

• In the late 16th century, English colonist Richard Whitbourne was involved in the fishing industry near Newfoundland. He later described the Great Auk as follows:

  These Penguins are as bigge as Geese, and flye not, for they haue but a little short wing, and they multiply so infinitly, vpon a certaine flat Iland, that men driue them from thence vpon a boord, into their boates by hundreds at a time; as if God had made the innocency of so poore a creature, to be∣come such an admirable instrument for the susten∣tation of man.⁶⁶

• In 1697, Scottish writer Martin Martin visited the isolated St Kilda archipelago in the North Atlantic and encountered Great Auks there:

  The Sea-Fowls are, first, Gairfowl, being the stateliest, as well as the Largest of all the Fowls here, and above the Size of a Solan Goose, of a Black Colour, Red about the Eyes, a large White Spot under each Eye, a long broad bill; stands stately, its& whole body erected, its Wings short, it flyeth not at all, lays its egg upon the bare Rock, which, if taken away, it lays no more for that year; it is Palmipes⁶⁷, or Whole-Footed, and has the Hatching spot upon its Breast, i.e. a bare Spot from which the Feathers have fallen off with the heat in Hatching; its egg is twice as big as that of a Solan Goose, and is variously spotted, Black, Green, and Dark; it comes without regard to any Wind, appears the first of May⁶⁸, and goes away about the middle of June.⁶⁹

• In the 17th century, French-born merchant and North American colonist Nicolas Denys observed Great Auks on the eastern coast of North America:

  The Great Auk (Pennegoin) is another bird, variegated in white and black. It does not fly. It has only two stumps of wings with which it beats upon the water to aid in fleeing or diving. It is claimed that it dives even to the bottom to seek its prey upon the Bank. It is found more than a hundred leagues ⁷⁰ from land, where, nevertheless, it comes to lay its eggs, like the others. When they have had their young, they plunge into the water; and their young place themselves upon their backs, and are carried like this as far as the Bank. There one sees some no larger than chickens, although they grow as large as geese. All those birds are good to eat by the fishermen. As for myself I do not find them agreeable. They taste of oil because of the quantity of fish and of livers they eat; and they serve to make fish oil. The fishermen collect them for this purpose. There are vessels which have made as much as ten or twelve puncheons ⁷¹ of it. This is nearly everything which is practiced in the fishery for green Cod upon the Grand Bank. ²²

• From 1794 to 1795, Royal Navy seaman Aaron Thomas (1762 - 1799) served aboard HMS Boston, reaching Newfoundland, where he participated in the mass slaughter of Great Auks on Funk Island. He recorded his experiences as follows⁷²:

  Funk Island is a barren spot inhabited only by Penguins and other Birds. The astonishing quantity which resort to this Island is beyond beliefe of any person, except those who have witnessed something similar in other parts. As soon as you put your foot on shore you meet with such Thousands of them that you cannot find a place for your feet and they are so lazy that they will not attempt to move out of your way. If you come for their Feather you do not give yourself the trouble of killing them, but lay hold of one and pluck off the best of the Feathers. You then turn the poor Penguin adrift, with his Skin half naked and torn off, to perish at his leasure. This is not a very humane method, but it is the common Practize.
  
  If you go to the Funks for Eggs, to be certain of getting them fresh, you pursue the following Rule: - you drive, knock and shove the poor Penguins in Heaps! You then scrape all the Eggs in Tumps in the same manner you would a Heap of Apples in an Orchard in Herefordshire. Numbers of these Eggs, from being dropped some time, are stale and useless, but you having cleared a space of ground the circumference of which is equal to the quantity of Eggs you want, you retire for a day or two behind some Rock at the end of which time you will find plenty of Eggs - fresh for certain! - on the place where you had before cleared.⁷³

  While you abide on this island you are in the constant practize of horrid cruelties for you not only Skin them Alive, but you burn them Alive also to cook their Bodies with. You take a kettle with you into which you put a Penguin or two, you kindle a fire under it, and this fire is absolutely made of the unfortunate Penguins themselves. Their bodys being oily soon produce a Flame; there is no wood on the island.⁷⁴

  I had the following information from a person in St. John’s… ‘About twenty years ago when this kind of Traffick was Lawfull, I made two Trips to the Funks. In these Trips I gathered, with one person with me, half a Ton of Feathers and as many Eggs as sold in St. John’s for Thirty Pounds!’

  This skinning and taking the Eggs from the Funks is now prohibited and they are allowed to take the Birds only for Bait to catch Fish with. [But] about three years ago some fellows were detected in this kind of Plunder. They were brought to St. John’s and flogged at a Cart’s Tail. But I am told there is a quantity of Feathers [still] purloined from these Islands every year.”

• In 1821, Scottish naturalist John Fleming observed a Great Auk captured near the St Kilda archipelago. This might be the only professional record of a live Great Auk:

  When on the eve of our departure from this island, we got on board a live example of the Great Auk (Alca impennis) which Mr Maclellan, the tacksman [i.e. tenant] of Glass had captured some time before off St Kilda. It was emaciated. and had the appearance of being sickly, but, in the course of a few days, it became sprightly, having been plentifully supplied with fresh fish, and permitted occasionally to sport in the water with a cord fastened to one of its legs to prevent escape. Even in this state of restraint it performed the motions of diving and swimming under water with a rapidity that set all pursuit from a boat at defiance. A few white feathers were at this time making their appearance on the sides of its neck and throat, which increased considerably during the following week and left no room to doubt that, like its congeners, the blackness of the throat feathers in summer is exchanged for white during the winter season. I may add that the black colour of the throat of the Razor-bill (Alca torda) was at this time undergoing a similar change.⁷⁵

• In 1858, British naturalist John Wolley (1823 - 1859) and Alfred Newton (1829 - 1907) searched for traces of the Great Auk near Iceland and interviewed the three Icelandic villagers who killed the last pair of Great Auks on Eldey Island on June 3, 1844⁷⁶. John Wolley died young the year after this visit, and the findings were later published by Alfred Newton, including records of the circumstances surrounding the death of the last two Great Auks.

  Tlie Garc-fowls sliowed not the slightest disposition to repel tlic invadws, but itnniediately ran along under the high cliff, their lrcads ervct, their little wings sotnewhat extended. They uttered no cry of alarm, and moved, with their short steps, about as quickly as a man could walk. Jón with outstretched arms drove one into a corner, where he soon had it fast. Sigurður and Ketill pursued the second, and the former seized it close to the edge of the rock, here risen to a precipice some fathoms high, the water being directly below it. Ketill then returned to the sloping shelf whence tlie birds had started, and saw an egg lying on the lava slab, which he knew to be a Garc-fowl’s. He took it up, but finding it was broken, put it down again. Whether there was not also another egg is uncertain, All this took place in much less time than it takes to tell it. They hurried down again, for the wind was rising. The birds were strangled and cast into the boat, and the two younger man followed.⁷⁷

  Wolley’s notes include his interviews with the three villagers: Sigurðr Islefsson, Jón Brandsson, and Ketil Ketilsson⁷⁸. The two Great Auks tried to escape separately, and Sigurðr Islefsson and Ketil Ketilsson each strangled one. Sigurðr Islefsson’s recollection is as follows:

  The rocks were covered with blackbirds ⁷⁹ and there were the Geirfugles … They walked slowly. Jón Brandsson crept up with his arms open. The bird that Jón got went into a corner but [mine] was going to the edge of the cliff. [I] caught it close to the edge - a precipice many fathoms ⁸⁰ deep. The black birds were flying off. I took him ⁸¹ by the neck and he flapped his wings. He made no cry. I strangled him. ⁸²

  My bird ran [from where it was first seen] about 20 fathoms. It walked like a man … but moved its feet quickly. It began to move as the people came on the rock and as the blackbirds began to fly. Its wings lay close to its sides - not hanging out. As it was held by the neck it hung its wings out a little. ⁸²

  Ketil Ketilsson’s recollection is essentially the same:

  [We] ran together after the birds, but as [we got near the edge of the precipice my] head failed me and I stopped; Sigurd went on and seized the bird … This one must have run quicker than a man can walk . It held itself quite straight up, with its wings close to its sides, and as it ran it made no noise or cry. ⁸²

• In 1883, Norwegian fisherman Herr Brodtkorb told Oslo University researcher Robert Collet about his sighting of four Great Auks at sea near Vardö, Finnmark County, in April 1848. He claimed to have shot one of them. This sighting is not widely accepted by the scientific community due to a lack of direct evidence, as Herr Brodtkorb claimed that the bird’s body was washed away by the tide. Additionally, his description suggests it could have been a misidentification of the common loon (Gavia immer), and Vardö is at a much higher latitude than the known modern range of the Great Auk⁸³. Herr Brodtkorb described the Great Auks as follows:

  In swimming they used both wings and feet, and also dived, but did not stay long under the water. It almost seemed as if they only went through the tops of the waves. The birds kept together and did not seem afraid. We .. heard a cry… they emitted when they drew more closely together. It resembled a cackling, as if they wished to call one another … When the shot went off all the four birds disappeared; but shortly after I saw the remaining three paddling on farther until they disappeared behind the surging waves.⁸⁴