Photo of the Day - Brünnich's guillemot

Brünnich's guillemot is an auk species closely related to more southern distributed common guillemot. It is feeding on crustaceans and small fish, if available, and thus it can reproduce more north than common guillemot which is extensively feeding on capelin and herring (small silvery fishes). These fishes are scarce this high north. Brünnich's guillemot is very abundant up here and thus it is one of the most intensively studied species by Norwegian Polar Institute. This year's program includes mounting geolocation tags on a leg of bunch of birds. These loggers are able to calculate the location of the bird with accuracy of some kilometers by recording sun parameters (when sun is highest on the sky and when it sets, if it does). Loggers also record dive profiles of the birds and produce important data for conservation and population management applications.