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The "Great Auk, Northern Penguin, or Gair-Fowl", wood engraving by Thomas Bewick in A History of British Birds, 1804 [a] The great auk was one of the 4,400 animal species formally described by Carl Linnaeus in his eighteenth-century work Systema Naturae, in which it was given the binomial Alca impennis. [15]
I am nominating the Great Auk article because I believe it is a comprehensive overview of the species, well-written and well-illustrated, and that it meets the criteria. The Great Auk was a large, flightless bird that actually gave penguins their name, though the auk was not related. It was hunted and collected into extinction in the mid-1800s.
During summer, great auk plumage showed a white patch over each eye. During winter, the great auk lost these patches, instead developing a white band stretching between the eyes. The wings were only 15 cm (6 in) long, rendering the bird flightless. Instead, the great auk was a powerful swimmer, a trait that it used in hunting.
Our bird names list has 150 of the best names for pet birds, including unique, cool, funny, and cute bird names for boys and girls, whether cockatiel or parrot. 150 Im-peck-able Bird Name Ideas ...
Auks are pelagic birds, spending the majority of their adult lives on the open sea and going ashore only for breeding, although some species, such as the common guillemot, spend a great part of the year defending their nesting spot from others. Auks are monogamous, and tend to form lifelong pairs.
The Great Auk, in Welsh pen gwyn, 'white head' (referring to the prominent white patch on the head which distinguishes it from other auks), was the original bird to which the name "penguin" applied; this use was first recorded in 1536 in respect of islands off Newfoundland.
The proposal to change the names of roughly 150 bird species from across North America is ruffling feathers among ornithologists and other bird lovers as a simmering debate grows increasingly heated.
Pinguinus alfrednewtoni is an extinct species of auk related to the great auk known from fossils that were discovered in the Pliocene Yorktown Formation of North Carolina.Like the great auk, it was a large flightless diving bird that used its wings to propel itself forward underwater.