SeabirdsRebecca Schulze

What are seabirds?

•Pelagic- roam far from shore

•Birds that spend most of their lives far out at sea

•Only come to land to breed and raise young

•Plumage offers camouflage dark above light below

•Feathers have waterproofing, help with insulation, and some for buoyancy

•Flexible webbed feet for great swimming and gain speed when taking off water, also some with strong claws to catch fish

Salt glands: •Extract salt from food and water, excrete through birds nostrils

Feeding:•Fish, crustaceans, and squid

•Easy meals by following fishing boats and picking at dumps

•Birds that dive under water to obtain food have a strong head structure to withstand high speeds

Wing shape•Longer tapered wings are for soaring with little effort for hours •Shorter better control to fly right by surface of water•Different birds can be easily recognized by soaring

Breeding: •Colony nesters

•Nurture young for longer then topical land birds

•Most have one brood with one egg a year

•Lifespan: 20- 40 years

Humpbacks and Seabirds:

•Symbiotic Relationship between humpback and many bird species such as gulls, shearwaters, and petrels (Peter Trull)

•As a humpback is creating a bubble net around a school of fish the birds are coming in to catch some food for themselves

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4REHLnrbf6k

Species we may see:

•These species were seen in past years on the Dolphin Fleet

• Special trips on Saturday and Tuesday were made with bird specialists

•Data was kept 2006 to 2009, from June- August

Double Crested Cormorant

Northern Gannet

Common Loon

Great Black-backed Gull

Herring Gull

Laughing Gull

Northern Folmar Greater

Shearwater

Manx Shearwater

Common Tern

White winged scooter

Wilson’s Storm Petrel

Thank you!

Questions?