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March 29, 2024

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Friday, January 28, 2022

Bird of the Week – Northern Fulmar

The Northern Fulmar is a member of the family Procellaridae, the tubenoses.

Pale Morph Northern Fulmar, St. Paul Island, Pribilof Islands

Pale Morph Northern Fulmar, St. Paul Island, Pribilof Islands

The tube-like structure on top of the bill allows the Northern Fulmar to excrete salt, making it independent of any need for fresh water. It some ashore only to lay eggs and raise its young. While it has a superficial resemblance to a gull, they are only distant relatives. This pretty lady was on a single egg.

The pale morph, in WC’s limited experience, is less common than the dark morph in Alaska waters.

Camera geek stuff: f11, 1/1600, ISO 100

For more bird photos, please visit Frozen Feather Images.

Comments

comments

Comments
3 Responses to “Bird of the Week – Northern Fulmar”
  1. mike from iowa says:

    Iz there a virus going around silencing Mudpups? Iz there a cure for it?

    • Alaska Pi says:

      for the Alaskan pups it is likely the weirdest January ever thing.
      We are gaining over 3 mins a day of light now which is great but we have no snow. no dang snow! What’s up with that ?!
      What’s up with temps in the 40s in January?!!!!
      I planted spinach under row cover just to see if it will come up since everything is wacked already 🙂

      I think the tubenose birds are fascinating! Thank you WC.

  2. mike from iowa says:

    Etymology[edit]
    Fulmarus glacialis can be broken down to the Old Norse word full meaning “foul” and mar meaning “gull”. “Foul-gull” is in reference to its stomach oil and also its superficial similarity to seagulls. Finally, glacialis is Latin for “glacial” because of its extreme northern range.[8]

    Woo Hoo! Another bird that blows chunks at intruders. Related to Leon Albatrotski and the Rime of the Ancient Mariner,or not.