Page 66 - Complete Birds of Britain and Europe (DK - RSPB)

PETRELS AND SHEARWATERS
Families Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae
PETRELS AND SHEARWATERS

O SUPREMELY ADAPTED to life at sea that SHEARWATERS
Sthey are cumbersome and vulnerable on land, Superb fliers, using air currents over the waves,
petrels and shearwaters (with the exception of the shearwaters are almost helpless ashore and in
cliff-nesting Fulmar) come to land only to breed danger from predatory gulls and skuas when
and then do so only under the cover of darkness. returning to their colonies.They fly with stiffly
By far the best chance of seeing most of them is outstretched wings and long glides between brief
from a ship at sea. periods of wingbeats. In still air, they look rather
heavy but with a wind become wonderfully
PETRELS capable, banking steeply over onto one wingtip
Like shearwaters and albatrosses, petrels’ tubular then to the other,showing alternately dark
nostrils excrete excess salt, and these birds are upperparts and light underparts as they fly past
known collectively as “tubenoses”.They breed far offshore.Young birds may be exhausted and
in burrows or cavities, staying out of sight all day. blown inland by autumn gales.
Returning birds follow calls from their mates on
the nests and use scent to find the right burrow GREAT
in pitch dark. SHEARWATER
An ocean-going migrant,
Petrels are mostly small and insignificant over this species breeds in the
the open sea, but are dainty fliers, coping with northern winter on islands
the most ferocious gales as they skim the wave in the South Atlantic.
crests.They are sometimes driven close inshore
and may then find it difficult to get back out
to sea, sometimes ending up, exhausted, inland.
Several species, especially the Storm Petrel,
follow ships to feed on organisms that are
disturbed in the wake.
The Fulmar is a larger bird, easily seen on its
open cliff ledge nest or flying beside cliff tops
during the day.

STORM PETREL
FULMAR
The tubular nostrils are easy to see on the Swallow-like in its actions, the
thick bill of this Fulmar, as it soars in the wind Storm Petrel feeds on tiny plankton
above a coastal cliff. and oily waste out at sea.

64