Birds of the World

Great Auk Pinguinus impennis Scientific name definitions

William A. Montevecchi and David A. Kirk
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 1, 1996

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Figure 1. Locations of known historical Great Auk breeding colonies in the northwest Atlantic. - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Figure 1. Locations of known historical Great Auk breeding colonies in the northwest Atlantic.

Within this area, Great Auks also bred at other sites for which there is (as yet) no conclusive documentation. Outside the breeding season, Great Auks were concentrated on the Grand Banks and ranged from southern Greenland to the New England coast, in low Arctic and boreal ocean waters.

Recommended Citation

Montevecchi, W. A. and D. A. Kirk (2020). Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (A. F. Poole and F. B. Gill, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.greauk.01
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