Page 390 - (DK) Ocean - The Definitive Visual Guide

388 ANIMAL LIFE

ORDER PROCELLARIIFORMES ORDER PROCELLARIIFORMES Often mistaken for a gull, this fulmar small animals at or near the sea’s
is actually a petrel and, like other surface, and they gather in large flocks
Southern Giant Northern Fulmar petrels, has distinctive tubular nostrils. to scavenge around fishing boats. They
Common throughout northern breed on exposed cliff ledges, with
Petrel Fulmarus glacialis waters, it is often seen flying over cliffs each female laying a single egg directly
LENGTH 18–20 in on its stiff, outstretched wings. Its onto the rock. The incubation period
Macronectes giganteus
(45–51 cm) weak feet make it clumsy on land, and is 52 days—almost twice as long as
LENGTH 34–39 in WEIGHT 1 / 2 –2 lb its eyes are dark with a distinct brow that in gulls of similar size. Despite its
1
(86–99 cm)
(700–900 g) ridge. Most northern fulmars in the low reproductive rate, the northern
WEIGHT 11 lb (5 kg) Atlantic have white bodies and fulmar has increased both in range
HABITAT Rocky coasts,
HABITAT Coasts, open open sea blue-gray upper wings, but in the and in numbers in recent years. It is
sea; nests on ice-free DISTRIBUTION North Pacific, north Atlantic, Pacific many of the birds are much exceptionally long-lived for its size,
coasts
ice-free areas of Arctic Ocean darker. Northern fulmars feed on with ages of over 50 years recorded.
DISTRIBUTION Southern hemisphere, from Antarctica
as far north as the tropics
Part-scavenger and part-predator,
this large petrel is often seen on the
fringes of penguin colonies or near
the carcasses of dead seals and whales.
It uses its powerful bill to tear apart
carrion and to kill young birds. Most
adults have a pale head and a dark
grayish brown back, but some are
almost completely white with
scattered black flecks.
tubular
nostrils

ORDER PROCELLARIIFORMES ORDER PROCELLARIIFORMES
Snow Petrel Fairy Prion

Pagodroma nivea Pachyptila turtur
LENGTH 12–14 in LENGTH 10–11 in
(30–35 cm) (25–28 cm)
WEIGHT 9–16 oz WEIGHT 5–8 oz
(250–450 g) (150–225 g)
HABITAT Rocky and HABITAT Islands
ice-bound coasts (breeding); open ocean
DISTRIBUTION Antarctica, subantarctic islands, DISTRIBUTION Southern Ocean and adjoining waters
Southern Ocean
A small, oceanic petrel, the fairy
Despite its dainty appearance, the prion has a pale body and blue-gray
snow petrel is one of the world’s most upper wings with a distinct, M-shaped
southerly breeding birds. This entirely black band. It lives in flocks and
white petrel nests on ice-free cliffs feeds at night, using its bill to sieve
in and near Antarctica, to within ORDER PROCELLARIIFORMES nests on scattered islands westward planktonic animals from the water.
680 miles (1,100 km) of the South from Hawaii. It has a small, short, It breeds on isolated coasts, laying a
Pole. It picks food from the surface Bonin Petrel slightly hooked bill and sharply single egg either in a burrow or in
of the sea, rarely straying far from pointed wings, and it is fast and agile a hollow deep among fallen rocks.
the polar ice. Flocks of snow petrels Pterodroma hypoleuca as it speeds through the air just above
are often seen sitting on icebergs. LENGTH 12 in (30 cm) the waves. It eats small planktonic
animals, usually landing on the surface
WEIGHT 8 oz (225 g)
to feed. This petrel nests in burrows
HABITAT Oceanic
islands (breeding); but has difficulty moving on land.
open ocean To reduce the risk of attack from
OCEAN LIFE There are over two dozen species of deliver regurgitated food to its single
predators, the Bonin petrel generally
returns to land at night, when it may
DISTRIBUTION Northwestern Pacific
chick. The parents share the task of
egg incubation over about 49 days.
Pterodroma petrels, mostly in tropical
On remote islands, petrel colonies can
and subtropical regions, and these are
be decimated by introduced predators,
often difficult to distinguish at sea. The
such as rats and cats. This species is
Bonin petrel is a typical example from
one that has been badly affected.
the northwestern Pacific, where it