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:

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.

Feeding Habits
Omnivorous. Active ship follower and attends trawlers. Tends to circle the boat for some time so beware overcounting the same birds.

Obtains food by: dipping, surface sezing, 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.

.	Dark morph Northern Fulmar with a light morph photographed in the Aleutian Islands on Unalaska by Emmalee Tarry 2005.

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.

At sea look for a bird that flies like the shearwaters to which it is closely related with plumage that looks more like a gull. Steep forehead and dark eye give it a distinctive look. On a recent pelagic out Brielle, NJ which had good numbers of Fulmars and adult Kittiwakes, I was surprised at the people who were having difficulty separating the two. Kittiwakes fly with a rapid wingbeat, but often glide on air currents behind the ship. Northern Fulmar photographed in the Shetland Islands by Emmalee Tarry.

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. Photo remains the property of the photographer.