The puzzle of the invasion of razorbills on the Italian coasts
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There seems to be an unsolvable rebus around that little bird which has the singular livery of a penguin, but compared to the penguin it can fly and how, and which has invaded – starting from mid-November – the Italian coasts. Previously it was rarely seen, a handful of observations a year, especially in the Ligurian Sea. But this year the razorbill, Alca torda the scientific name, a species of pelagic habits, a very skilled swimmer, particularly fond of anchovies, is almost everywhere. To the point that ornithologists had already reported an “anomalous increase in observations” a few weeks ago, first in the regions bordering the wintering area, in Liguria, Tuscany and Sardinia, and then along the whole Tyrrhenian Sea, from Lazio to Campania (in Naples not seen for almost a century), from Calabria to Sicily. Finally, here it is also along the coasts of Salento, between the Ionian and the Adriatic. And reports have also arrived from North Africa and Greece.
A phenomenon that ended up on the pages of New Scientist and which has fueled, and fuels, the debate among experts.
