Seabird sampler

  

Here's a sampling of seabirds we encountered in Iceland.  Most of these photos were taken on the ferry to/from Heimaey except as noted.

Above, a Sooty Shearwater (Ardenna grisea), and below a Sooty Shearwater on the left and a Manx Shearwater (Puffinus puffinus) on the right.  Note the size and color differences (the Manx Shearwater is smaller with black above and white below):

 

 

 

 

 

Adult Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica) with a fish...

 

and a juvenile Atlantic Puffin:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Immature Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla)...

 

and an adult kittiwake flying by an iceberg at the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon:

 

 

 

 

 Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) in Reykjavík.

 

 

 

 

Northern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) soaring on updrafts along the cliffs. 

 

 

Great Skua (Stercorarius skua) high above the harbor on Heimaey.

 

 

Arctic Terns (Sterna paradisaea)

It was fun to see some familiar faces in a new setting — many of these species can also be seen off Bodega Head — as well as some species I haven't seen in a while (e.g., Atlantic Puffin, Black-headed Gull, and Great Skua).

Land of fulmars

After spending this past week in Iceland, I started thinking about Iceland as the land of fulmars.  It was amazing to see Northern Fulmars (Fulmaris glacialis) everywhere — over the ocean, soaring around sea stacks, perched on sea cliff ledges, resting next to waterfalls, gliding among the icebergs, and high above inland cliffs.

If you look closely, I’m guessing you’ll be able to see fulmars in all of the photos below.  Sometimes the scale of the photo is such that the fulmars appear quite small, so you might need to click on the image to view larger versions.

From 20 miles offshore

A few pictures from the pelagic trip to Bodega Canyon and Cordell Bank on 18 September 2015:

 

 Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma furcata)

 

Northern Fulmar (Fulmaris glacialis) 

 

Pomarine Jaeger (Stercorarius pomarinus)

 

Black-footed Albatross (Phoebastria nigripes) 

 

Wings over wind over waves

(Black-footed Albatross with 6.5-foot wing span)

Many thanks to Debi Shearwater for 35 years of organizing pelagic trips out of Bodega Bay and giving so many people a chance to learn about offshore wildlife.

Nostalgic

I did a presentation tonight where I talked a little bit about my lobstering background and it made me feel nostalgic for being on boats out at sea.  So here's a picture of a Northern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis).  This one was taken near Cordell Bank on 14 October 2011.

 

I first wrote about fulmars in October 2012.  To learn more about them, you can read that post here.

Stiff winds and stiff wings

Yesterday it was blowing 20-25 knots out of the northwest, with gusts to 30-35 knots.  I'm guessing the strong winds had something to do with this visitor to Salmon Creek Beach.  Do you recognize this bird?

 

Here are a few closer views:

 

 

Note the relatively stocky and thick-necked appearance.

 

This is a Northern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis).  Fulmars are seabirds related to shearwaters and petrels.  They're in a group known as "tubenoses" because their nostrils are enclosed in long tubes on top of their bills.  This feature is hard to discern in the pictures from 20 October 2012, but see the next close-up taken at Cordell Bank on 14 October 2011.

 

In all of these photos, note the stiff-winged profile and imagine a flight pattern alternating between glides and shallow wing beats.  The fulmar was soaring up over the waves, moving across the wind.  

 

The distinctive arcing and banking flight caught my eye.  Although I've seen fulmars from land, this is the first one I've noticed spending significant time in the surf zone.  

During the fall and winter, it's common to see fulmars offshore, with an ocean backdrop.  It's unusual to view them with coastal hills and trees in the background, or gliding over driftwood on the beach!

 

A few fun facts about Northern Fulmars (thanks to The Birds of North America account by Hatch and Nettleship):

- There are only 34 breeding colonies in North America.  Half of them are in Alaska.  99% of the Alaskan population is found at several island colonies (Semidi Island, Chagulak Island, Pribilof Islands, and St. Matthew and Hall islands).

- Fulmars are broadly distributed across the Pacific Ocean during the winter, but common only north of 35-40°N.  (Bodega Head is at 38°N.)

- They don't breed until 8-10 years old.  They raise only one chick per year.  They're very long-lived, with an average lifespan of ~30 years.

- Fulmars have a strong sense of smell and use olfactory cues to locate their prey, e.g., fish, squid, and zooplankton (primarily crustaceans).