Abstract
Razorbill Alca torda is one of the rarest breeding auks in North America. A number of surveys have been conducted at breeding colonies in recent years to estimate population size and trends. Summarizing the available data, we estimate that approximately 38 000 pairs of Razorbills currently breed in eastern North America. The largest concentrations of Razorbills breed on the Quebec North Shore and in coastal southern Labrador; smaller numbers breed in the Quebec portion of the gulf and estuary of the St. Lawrence River, Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and St. Pierre and Miquelon. The single largest colony is on the Gannet Islands, Labrador, estimated at almost 10 000 breeding pairs. Most of the large breeding colonies have some legislated protection. Recent trends are encouraging, as populations on the Quebec North Shore and the Gannet Islands are increasing. However, a number of real and potential threats to the population still persist - namely, incidental take in the Newfoundland murre hunt, reductions in forage fish populations, gill-net mortality, and the risk of oiling. Surveys of colonies not visited in the last 20 years (Labrador and Newfoundland) and determining affinities between breeding colonies and a newly discovered wintering area in the Bay of Fundy remain priority areas of research that will help in the effective management of Razorbill populations.
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