The Great Auk: Its Extraordinary Life, Hideous Death and Mysterious Afterlife

by Tim Birkhead

The life, death and afterlife of one of the true icons of extinction, the Great Auk

Since 1950 more than seventy percent of the world's seabirds have been lost through human activity. The Great Auk was the first species to go. A goose-sized seabird superbly adapted for underwater flight, their lives were idyllic prior to the appearance of three months ashore to breed, the rest of the time riding the ocean waves.

However, Great Auks had one main predator – humans. Having harried the bird mercilessly for centuries in the east, the Europeans who stumbled upon the Great Auks' New World breeding colonies in the 16th century couldn't believe their luck. Seabird colonies became fast-food restaurants for hungry sailors, with mariners gorging themselves on the liver-flavoured auk flesh for more than two centuries.

The last two were killed in 1844, but the Great Auk lived on, with collectors obsessing over their skins, eggs and skeletons through dodgy dealings involving staggering amounts of money. 180 years on, leading ornithologist Tim Birkhead found himself the recipient of the archive of a man who accumulated more Great Auk skins and eggs than anyone else.

Rich with insight and packed with tales of birds and of people, this astonishing book reveals the Great Auk's life before humanity, its death on that fateful day in 1844, and the unrelenting subsequent quest for its remains – the first seabird ruthlessly destroyed by human actions, and an all-powerful symbol of human folly and the necessity of conservation.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Nature, Ornithology, Animals, Birds, History

288 pages, Hardcover

First published March 13, 2025

About the author

Tim Birkhead is an award-winning author and one of the world’s leading bird biologists. He is the coauthor of Ten Thousand Birds: Ornithology since Darwin (Princeton) and the author of The Wonderful Mr. Willughby: The First True Ornithologist, The Most Perfect Thing: The Inside (and Outside) of a Bird’s Egg, and Bird Sense: What It’s Like to Be a Bird, among other books. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and professor emeritus of zoology at the University of Sheffield.

Reviews

[Emilee Gooch · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good information, bad writing that made it very difficult to get through

[Christian · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Great Auk was a really fascinating read about a now presumably extinct bird (let’s be honest, you never know if there is a population knocking about). Incredibly well researched, it was hard to put down, and pulled out many emotions in me, mainly wonder and fascination, but also horror and sadness that this bird is probably no longer around and just how much Man’s unintended greed led to the demise of such a wonderful creature.

[David Corleto-Bales]

The Great Auk was a giant seabird, up to three feet tall, that most closely resembled a big-beaked penguin, but lived in a few rookeries off of Newfoundland and in the islands off Iceland and Scotland until the mid-19th century. Numbering in the thousands, the auk was rendered extinct first by rapacious, hungry sailors who caught the unknowing, flightless birds by the hundreds and roasted them and their eggs for shipboard provisions. Native people in Newfoundland had known of the auks, but barely made a dent in their population. More or less sitting ducks, the great auks dwindled and dwindled until the late-18th century when the frenzy of "bird collecting" became popular. Collectors, desperate to get a sample of every species known for "scientific reasons" (sale to museums) further decimated the auks and collected their eggs. By the 1800s, the auks were extremely rare and their skins and eggs valuable on the market. Oologists began scavenging every known rookery of the auk for specimens. The book is taken over by the story of one wealthy collector, Vivian Hewitt, who by the 1940s had amassed a vast collection of bird's eggs, three auk mounted specimens and thirteen eggs! A fascinating and tragic story, the auk going extinct officially in 1844, but lasted perhaps longer in remote areas.

[Charlie Willan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute gem. This book manages to be both scientifically enlightening and intensly emotional. The ghost of the great auk delivers very powerful life lessons.

[Adrian]

Birkhead does a nice job bringing the history of this extinct bird into the open. It is also a history of the birds' eggs and skins and the collectors who track down these prizes. In particular Birkhead focuses on Vivian Hewitt perhaps the greatest collector of them all. Ever since Hewitt's death the remains of his collection have been diligently tracked. Birkhead shows how the study of these remains increase our knowledge of the bird. For example scientists have learned how the auk's eggs were shaped so they would not fall off rocky perches. Author has a light touch and a curious mind which keeps the story interesting.

[May · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very much enjoyed reading this! A comprehensive and melancholic view of the great auk, a bird that has always fascinated me as a seabird researcher. In parts it more about the people that chased and tracked down the remaining specimens but picking apart theories as to what its ecology, behaviour, and breeding cycles could have been based on other members of the auk family was fascinating and it will be interesting to find out if any more information is gleaned from the remaining subjects over time or whether it will always remain a mystery. All in all a good read for those intersted in the bird and the people who developed an obsession with them after its extinction. Thank you Prof. Tim!

[Kiril Valchev · Rating 4 out of 5]

" The Great Auk " разкрива печалната история на изчезналата в средата на XIX век Гигантска гагарка (Pinguinus imprennis). История както за изключителната птица и това, "което я е правило толкова специална", така и за гибелната колекционерска обсесия, човешката глупост и пренебрежението ни към околния свят. Прозата е жива и ярка, а на моменти, английският орнитолог Тим Бъркхед, я облича в детективски одежди, тръгвайки по следите на яйца, пера и кожи.

П.П. Да не ви подвежда латинското име на Гигантската гагарка. Не е близкородствена с пингвините, но външната ѝ прилика с тях, е дала името им.

[Roger Morgan-Grenville · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extraordinary piece of research about far more than the fate of the extinct Great Auk, not least the capacity of humans for destruction and the obsession that lies behind the most extreme collectors of all. If anyone is qualified to write about the Great Auk, it is this author.

[Sneed III · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific book from both bird and human perspectives. See my full review at fathersonbirding.com.

[Thomas Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and melancholic in equal measure