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Northern Fulmar

Northern Fulmar

Fulmarus glacialis

Identify the Northern Fulmar by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

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The Northern Fulmar is an abundant seabird of the subarctic North Atlantic and North Pacific, often mistaken for a gull but actually a tube-nosed petrel. It occurs in light and dark morphs, from nearly white with grey wings to uniformly slate-grey, with many intermediates. A powerful, stiff-winged flier and very long-lived, it nests in large colonies on cliff ledges and even on buildings.

Did you know?

  • Fulmars spray foul-smelling stomach oil at predators; it can mat the feathers of attacking birds.
  • Fulmars can live for over 40 years.

Voice

Sound

About the species

Identification

Medium-sized (length 45–50 cm, wingspan 87–112 cm), with a torpedo-shaped body, strong head and thick bill with tubular nostrils. The wings are fairly short and blunt, and it flies with stiff-winged glides. Morphs range from light (off-white below, greyish back, dark around the eye) to dark (lead-grey all over), with intermediates. Told from gulls by its thick tube-nosed bill and stiff, gliding flight.

Family

Procellariidae

Size

Large (crow)

Colours

white, grey

About the habitat

Open subarctic seas of the North Atlantic and North Pacific; breeds in colonies on grassy ledges and slopes of sea cliffs and islands, increasingly also on buildings.

Diet

Omnivorous at sea: shrimps, fish, squid, plankton and jellyfish, as well as carrion and fishing discards; it also makes shallow dives down to about 4 m.

Behaviour

A strong, stiff-winged flier that glides low over the waves and forages widely over cold oceans, often following fishing boats. Fulmars form long-term pairs and return to the same nest site in large colonies; both sexes share the long incubation and chick-rearing. Courtship involves head-waving and cackling calls. Adults and chicks can eject foul-smelling stomach oil in defence.

Sources

Photo: Northern-Fulmar2.jpg: Andreas Trepte, CC BY-SA 2.5 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Northern-Fulmar2 cropped.jpg

Sound: Unknown, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Northern_Fulmar_(Fulmarus_glacialis)_(W1CDR0001409_BD2).ogg

Text: Wikipedia (English), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_fulmar

See also