Hundreds of razorbills, marine seabirds native to northern Atlantic coasts, have been arriving at coastlines in Italy – and many aren’t looking healthy.
at the Anton Dohrn Zoological Station in Naples, Italy, who spotted the first birds on 17 November, says that while the razorbill isn’t new to southern Europe, sightings would typically involve single birds getting lost once or twice a year. This time, 11 razorbills have been counted in the Gulf of Naples alone, where they hadn’t been seen since 1928, and more than 400 have been identified in Italy’s northern Liguria region in a single day. The latest sightings confirm that the birds have also reached Greece.
“Many of the birds we spotted seemed to be hungry, even reaching for food from people’s hands, which is abnormal for a wild animal,” says Balestrieri. A revealed they were severely underweight, about half the average 700 grams for a healthy adult.
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“Razorbills feed on small fish such as anchovies, diving down to 120 metres below the sea surface,” says Balestrieri. “It’s early to draw conclusions, but it is possible that overfishing may have reduced their catch, or that due to abnormally warm seawater, the fish may have moved deeper, where the razorbills can’t reach them.”
at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds says that rare mass displacements such as this are known as irruptions or wrecks and typically lead to the deaths of many birds that end up in environments that cannot accommodate them.
“I do not think we should be very worried, as long as this is a one-off event and the population has the chance to recover,” says Carboneras. The impact will be less if the displaced birds are young, but more serious if they turn out to be of reproductive age, something that can be assessed by looking at the size and shape of the bill. “The situation would become much worse if there was a similar event in the next few years,” he says.
at the Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre in Lisbon, Portugal, says that until more information comes in, the best that scientists can do is speculate.
“We know that climate change can affect marine ecosystems,” she says. “One of the main threats for the razorbill can be the shifts in prey availability due to rising temperatures or extreme weather.”
This migration could simply be a matter of a single storm confusing the birds, she says. Whatever the cause, “it is important to understand whether what we are observing is an isolated case or whether this episode is symptomatic of a deeper change taking place in the marine areas where this species spends the non-breeding season”, she says. “We must stay alert.”
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