Razorbill — Wings of NH

What you notice first

Far out past the surf, a small, stubby, black-and-white seabird flying low and fast on whirring wings, dead straight, with a thick head and a heavy blunt bill held slightly up.

Voice

Silent away from the breeding colonies.

Where & when

The open ocean off Odiorne Point and Rye Harbor, usually distant. December through February, on calm days, often after a stretch of onshore wind or a storm has pushed birds toward the coast. Some winters bring a modest flight; others, almost none.

Why it's hard

A true pelagic bird that only comes near shore in winter, stays well out when it does, and turns up in unpredictable numbers driven by ocean conditions and food. You need the right day, a scope, sea-watching experience to call a distant alcid, and some luck.

The Razorbill is the closest living relative of the extinct Great Auk, and it looks the part: a compact, upright, penguin-shaped seabird that flies with fast shallow wingbeats and swims underwater with those same wings, chasing fish down to a couple of hundred feet.

It breeds on rocky ledges in the Gulf of Maine and the North Atlantic — the nearest colonies to New Hampshire are on islands off the Maine coast — and disperses onto open water for the winter, when a fraction of the population moves south along the New England shelf.

For a New Hampshire birder, a Razorbill is a winter seawatch prize. Set up at Odiorne on a cold, flat, clear morning, scan the horizon line methodically, and be ready to judge a small black-and-white shape by shape and flight style alone. A close one riding the swell is a very good day.