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| Seabirds | Fulmarine Petrels | Northern Fulmar | Comment | Site Map |
| New
England Seabirds -
Fulmarine Petrels
Northern
Fulmar |
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Other Names Arctic Fulmar, or sometimes just Fulmar. Face on photo by Jim Wallius shows the tube on the top of the beak that houses the nostrils. While the Fulmar may look like a gull, it drinks salt water and is a true Procellaridae. Gulls must come to land to drink fresh water. The Fulmar comes to land only to breed. |
Breeds in Northern Hemisphere
To locate the breeding
colonies of the Northern Fulmar consider the globe from the perspective of the
North Pole. The distribution of breeding locations in North America according
to Hatch and Nettleship for birds that
disburse in the Atlantic are:
| Location | Number of colonies |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 5 |
| Arctic Canada includes: Baffin Island, Devon Island ¹ | 11 |
¹ The eastern most breeding colonies on Devon Island are separated by 3,500 km from the neareast Pacific Colonies.
Many more Northern Fulmars breed off the northern coast of Ireland , Scotland and Scandanavia. For description see "Wandering Birder- Europe"
Breeding Habits
Like other seabirds, the Fulmar does not start breeding until 8-10 years of age and then lays but one egg per year. Immature birds probably spend the first 3 years at sea and these are the individuals we are likely to see off the New England coast. Breeding birds remain in the area of the colonies all winter unless it is ice covered. The Fulmar is a long lived bird. There is documentation of individuals still breeding at 40 years of age.
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Nests on high cliffs near the sea. Sites usually mixed with
other species such as kittiwakes, murres, and cormorants.
These birds were photographed on the Shetland Islands with a
point and shoot camera by Emmalee Tarry. |
Fulmars are occasionally seen on pelagic birding trips and whale watches from the New England coast. Never numerous, your chances of seeing one are greatest in late fall and after a strong east wind. Try taking the Stellwagen Bank Christmas Bird Count in mid- December.
Feeding Habits
Omnivorous. Active ship follower and
attends trawlers. Loves suet. Tends to circle the boat for some time so beware over counting
the same birds.
Obtains food by: dipping, surface seizing, surface-
plunging, pursuit-diving, and scavenging.
Color
Morphs
The Northern Fulmar color morphs range from almost white to
very dark gray birds. Most birds in the Atlantic are the light morphs and are
about the color of a Herring Gull. In some locations on the Pacific side the
dark forms greatly outnumber the light forms. This was observed in Unalaska on
the Aleutian Islands.
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Dark morph Northern Fulmar with a light morph bird photographed in the Aleutian Islands on Unalaska by Emmalee Tarry 2005 with a point and shoot Cannon. |
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A pearl gray dark morph Fulmar was seen and photographed by Jim Besada on the 2010 fall NH Audubon Tri-state Pelagic. Compare this bird with the two in the photo above. Notice the dark tube on the bill. The tubes on the Pacific coast birds are light. |
.jpg) This was the first dark morph Northern Fulmar seen by the webmaster Emmalee Tarry after more than 20 years of New England pelagic birding. |
| Light morph individual photographed June 30 on the BBC pelagic to Nantucket Shoals by Ian Davis. Note the steep forehead, dark eye and marking on the bill. Seems to be molting. |
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Identification
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| Also look for a bird with white spots on both wings. The spots do not always show up as well as they do in this photo. This bird was photographed on the 2001 December pelagic out of Brielle. Video photo by Karl Lukens and used with his permission. |  |
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Photo by Steve Mirick. Notice the white spots on the wings. |
All photos remain the property of the photographer.
| Seabirds | Last update 08/20/2012 |