Editing Great auk (section)

==Distribution and habitat==
[[File:Stac an Armin - geograph.org.uk - 5831655.jpg|left|alt=A large, triangular rock rises from the misty waters, with more islands behind and northern gannets flying around it.|thumb|[[Stac an Armin]], [[St. Kilda, Scotland]], one locality where the great auk used to breed]]
The great auk was found in the cold [[North Atlantic]] coastal waters along the coasts of Canada, the northeastern United States, Norway, Greenland, Iceland, the [[Faroe Islands]], Ireland, Great Britain, France, and the [[Iberian Peninsula]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=Novo registo de Pinguim (''Pinguinus impennis'') no Plistocénico de Portugal |last1=Pimenta|first1= Carlos M.|last2=Figueiredo|first2= Silvério|last3= Moreno García|first3= Marta |journal=Revista portuguesa de arqueologia |volume= 11 |issue= 2 |year=2008|pages= 361–370|url=http://www.patrimoniocultural.gov.pt/media/uploads/revistaportuguesadearqueologia/11.2/17_18/18_p.361-370.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170411135554/http://www.patrimoniocultural.gov.pt/media/uploads/revistaportuguesadearqueologia/11.2/17_18/18_p.361-370.pdf |archive-date=2017-04-11 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Crofford_1989/>{{rp|page=5}} Pleistocene fossils indicate the great auk also inhabited [[Cosquer Cave|Southern France]], Italy, and other coasts of the Mediterranean basin.<ref name="Pinguinus impennis great auk">{{cite web |url=http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Pinguinus_impennis/ |title=Pinguinus impennis (great auk) |website=Animal Diversity Web |language=en |access-date=2017-03-03}}</ref><ref name=Cokinos2000/>{{rp|page=314}} It was common on the [[Grand Banks of Newfoundland]].<ref name="BNAHabitat" /> In recorded history, the great auk typically did not go farther south than [[Massachusetts Bay]] in the winter.<ref name="BNAMigration" /> Great auk bones have been found as far south as [[Florida]], where it may have been present during four periods: approximately 1000 BC and 1000 AD, as well as during the fifteenth century and the seventeenth century.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Weigel | first = Penelope Hermes| title = Great Auk Remains from a Florida Shell Midden | journal = [[Auk (journal)|Auk]] | volume = 75 | issue = 2 | pages = 215–216 | publisher = [[University of California Press]] | location = Berkeley| year = 1958 | url = http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v075n02/p0215-p0216.pdf| access-date =8 May 2009 | doi = 10.2307/4081895 | jstor = 4081895}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last = Brodkorb| first = Pierce| title = Great Auk and Common Murre from a Florida Midden| journal = [[Auk (journal)|Auk]] | volume = 77 | issue = 3 | pages = 342–343 | publisher = University of California Press | location = Berkeley | year = 1960 | url = http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v077n03/p0342-p0343.pdf | access-date =8 May 2009 | doi = 10.2307/4082490 | jstor = 4082490}}</ref> It has been suggested that some of the bones discovered in Florida may be the result of aboriginal trading.<ref name="BNAMigration" /> In the eastern Atlantic, the southernmost records of this species are two isolated bones, one from [[Madeira]]<ref>Pieper, H. (1985). The fossil land birds of Madeira and Porto Santo. ''Bocagiana. Museu de História Natural do Funchal'', Nº88.</ref> and another from the [[Neolithic]] site of El Harhoura 2 in Morocco.<ref>[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266741511_A_Great_Auk_Pinguinus_impennis_in_North_Africa_Discovery_of_a_bone_remain_in_Neolithic_layer_of_El_Harhoura_2_Cave_Temara_Morocco Campmas, E., Laroulandie, V., Michel, P., Amani, F., Nespoulet, R., & Mohammed, A. E. H. (2010). 22 "A great auk (Pinguinus impennis) in North Africa: discovery of". In Birds in Archaeology: Proceedings of the 6th Meeting of the ICAZ Bird Working Group in Groningen (23.8-27.8. 2008) (Vol. 12, p. 233). Barkhuis.]</ref>

The great auk left the North Atlantic waters for land only to breed, even roosting at sea when not breeding.<ref name=BNABehavior/><ref name=Crofford_1989/>{{rp|page=29}} The [[Rookery|rookeries]] of the great auk were found from [[Baffin Bay]] to the [[Gulf of St. Lawrence]], across the far northern Atlantic, including Iceland, and in Norway and the British Isles in Europe.<ref name=Crofford_1989/>{{rp|pages=29–30}}<ref name="Meldegaard">{{cite journal |last=Meldegaard |first=Morten |year=1988 |title=The Great Auk, ''Pinguinus impennis'' (L.) in Greenland |url=https://avibirds.com/wp-content/uploads/pdf/reuzenalk1.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Historical Biology |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=145–178 |bibcode=1988HBio....1..145M |doi=10.1080/08912968809386472 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051212182137/http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/pdf/ghbi_01_01_02.pdf |archive-date=2005-12-12 |access-date=11 May 2010}}</ref> For their nesting colonies the great auks required rocky islands with sloping shorelines that provided access to the sea. These were very limiting requirements and it is believed that the great auk never had more than 20 breeding colonies.<ref name=Cokinos2000/>{{rp|page=312}} The nesting sites also needed to be close to rich feeding areas and to be far enough from the mainland to discourage visitation by predators such as humans and [[polar bear]]s.<ref name="BNAHabitat">{{Cite web | last = Montevecchi | first = William A. |author2=David A. Kirk | title =Habitat-Great Auk (''Pinguinus impennis'') | work = The Birds of North America Online | publisher = Cornell Lab of Ornithology | year = 1996 | url = http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/260/articles/habitat| access-date =29 April 2010 }} {{subscription required}}</ref> The localities of only seven former breeding colonies are known: [[Papa Westray]] in the [[Orkney Islands]], [[St Kilda, Scotland|St. Kilda]] off Scotland, [[Grímsey|Grimsey Island]], [[Eldey Island]], [[Geirfuglasker]] near Iceland, [[Funk Island]] near [[Newfoundland and Labrador|Newfoundland]],<ref>Milne, John. "Relics of the Great Auk on Funk Island", ''The Field'', 27 March – 3 April 1875.</ref> and the [[Magdalen Islands|Bird Rocks]] (Rochers-aux-Oiseaux) in the [[Gulf of St. Lawrence]]. Records suggest that this species may have bred on [[Cape Cod]] in [[Massachusetts]].<ref name=Cokinos2000/>{{rp|page=312}} By the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the breeding range of the great auk was restricted to Funk Island, Grimsey Island, Eldey Island, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the St. Kilda islands.<ref name=Crofford_1989/>{{rp|page=30}} Funk Island was the largest known breeding colony.<ref name="BNA">{{Cite web | last = Montevecchi | first = William A. |author2=David A. Kirk |title =Great Auk (''Pinguinus impennis'') | work = The Birds of North America Online | publisher = Cornell Lab of Ornithology | year = 1996 | url = http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/260/articles/introduction | access-date =28 April 2010 }}</ref> After the chicks fledged, the great auk migrated north and south away from the breeding colonies and they tended to go southward during late autumn and winter.<ref name="BNAMigration">{{Cite web | last = Montevecchi | first = William A. |author2=David A. Kirk | title =Migration – Great Auk (''Pinguinus impennis'') | work = The Birds of North America Online | publisher = Cornell Lab of Ornithology | year = 1996 | url = http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/260/articles/migration| access-date =29 April 2010 }}</ref>