This week I have another mystery sound from Cheryl Tipp at the British Library Wildlife Sound Archive and skull from the Horniman Museum & Gardens:
Do you think the sound and the skull are from the same species, and can you recognise which species?
You can send your answers on a postcard, or if you prefer just pop them in the comments section below… Have fun!
Zygoma 
Could be a very surprised albatross?
Oooh I think you could shave with that beak!
The skull and the sound are from different birds.
The skull belongs to Bill the shaver and the song belongs to the bird in my duvet
Clearly when I heard the sound I had no eider that it didn’t match the sharp looking skull!
After a bit of researching I’ve come to the conclusion that this most likely is Alca torda a.k.a. the razorbill. And I all of a sudden I got the privieous comments! 😉 English is my second language, so I’ve never encountered the term ‘razorbill’ before. In norwegian this penguin-lookalike is simply called ‘alke’.
. About the sound: It’s definetly not made by the razorbill! I think I have managed to rule out looms and the eurasian eagle-owl. But the sound itself sounds very familiar to me, it’s the kind of sound you often hear in the wooded mountains of mid-Norway late in the evenings during summer. Will have to do a little more research. 🙂
And then the eider came into play! 😉 The sound is made by the common eider.
So then the duvet was also put into place. 🙂
Wandering albatross?
I’ve been lucky enough to see that beaky bird in real life, nesting on the chalk cliffs at Flamborough in Yorkshire. Clinging on the sheer cliffs with their webbed feet – bet there are a few -cough- close shaves…! The sound is a different bird – a beautifully coloured one which I’d love to see and hear one day for real. I always think of it as a posh duck.