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Procellariiformes is an order of seabirds that comprises four families: the albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters, and 2 families of storm petrels. Formerly called Tubinares and still called tubenoses in English, procellariiforms are often referred to collectively as the petrels, a term that has been applied to all members of the order, or more commonly all the families except the albatrosses. They are almost exclusively pelagic, and have a cosmopolitan distribution across the world's oceans, with the highest diversity being around New Zealand.
Seabirds are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar adaptations. The first seabirds evolved in the Cretaceous period, and modern seabird families emerged in the Paleogene.
The fulmars are tubenosed seabirds of the family Procellariidae. The family consists of two extant species and two extinct fossil species from the Miocene.
Shearwaters are medium-sized long-winged seabirds in the petrel family. They have a global marine distribution, but are most common in temperate and cold waters, and are pelagic outside the breeding season.
Petrels are tube-nosed seabirds in the bird order Procellariiformes.
The family Procellariidae is a group of seabirds that comprises the fulmarine petrels, the gadfly petrels, the prions, and the shearwaters. This family is part of the bird order Procellariiformes, which also includes the albatrosses, the storm petrels, and the diving petrels.
The Manx shearwater is a medium-sized shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. The scientific name of this species records a name shift: Manx shearwaters were called Manks puffins in the 17th century. Puffin is an Anglo-Norman word for the cured carcasses of nestling shearwaters. The Atlantic puffin acquired the name much later, possibly because of its similar nesting habits.
The Balearic shearwater is a medium-sized shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. Puffinus is a New Latin loanword based on the English "puffin" and its variants, such as poffin, pophyn and puffing, that referred to the cured carcass of the fat nestling of the Manx shearwater, a former delicacy. The specific mauretanicus refers to Mauretania, an old name for an area of North Africa roughly corresponding to Morocco and Algeria.
The northern fulmar, fulmar, or Arctic fulmar is a highly abundant sea bird found primarily in subarctic regions of the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans. There has been one confirmed sighting in the Southern Hemisphere, with a single bird seen south of New Zealand. Fulmars come in one of two color morphs: a light one, with white head and body and gray wings and tail, and a dark one which is uniformly gray. Though similar in appearance to gulls, fulmars are in fact members of the family Procellariidae, which include petrels and shearwaters.
The little shearwater is a small shearwater in the petrel family Procellariidae. Despite the generic name, it is unrelated to the puffins, which are auks, the only similarity being that they are both burrow-nesting seabirds.
The Skellig Islands, once known as "the Skellocks", are two small, steep, and rocky islands lying about 13 km (8 mi) west of Bolus Head on the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. The larger of the two is Skellig Michael which, together with Little Skellig, is at the centre of a 364-hectare (899-acre) Important Bird Area established by BirdWatch Ireland in 2000. Skellig Michael is also famous for an early Christian monastery that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Skomer or Skomer Island is an island off the coast of Pembrokeshire, in the community of Marloes and St Brides in west Wales. It is well known for its wildlife: around half the world's population of Manx shearwaters nest on the island, the Atlantic puffin colony is the largest in southern Britain, and the Skomer vole is unique to the island. Skomer is a national nature reserve, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Protection Area. It is surrounded by a marine nature reserve and is managed by the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales.
Cardigan Island is a small, uninhabited island lying north of Cardigan, in Ceredigion, south-west Wales. It reaches a height of 52 metres (171 ft) a.s.l., and 38 acres (15 ha) in area.
The yelkouan shearwater, Levantine shearwater or Mediterranean shearwater is a medium-sized shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae.
Skúvoy or Skúgvoy is an island in the central Faroe Islands, located to the south of Sandoy.
Annet is the second largest of the fifty or so uninhabited Isles of Scilly, 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) west of St Agnes with a length of 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) and approximately 22 hectares in area. The low-lying island is almost divided in two by a narrow neck of land at West Porth which can, at times, be covered by waves. At the northern end of the island are the two granite carns of Annet Head and Carn Irish and three smaller carns known as the Haycocks. The rocky outcrops on the southern side of the island, such as South Carn, are smaller. Annet is a bird sanctuary and the main seabird breeding site in Scilly.
The Barolo shearwater, also known as the North Atlantic little shearwater or Macaronesian shearwater, is a small shearwater which breeds in the Azores and Canaries of Macaronesia in the North Atlantic Ocean. Puffinus is a New Latin loanword based on the English "puffin" and its variants, such as poffin, pophyn and puffing, that referred to the cured carcass of the fat nestling of the Manx shearwater, a former delicacy. The specific baroli refers to Carlo Tencredi Falletti, marquis of Barolo.
Spilopsyllus cuniculi, the rabbit flea, is a species of flea in the family Pulicidae. It is an external parasite of rabbits and hares and is occasionally found on cats and dogs and also certain seabirds that nest in burrows. It can act as a vector for the virus that causes the rabbit disease myxomatosis.
Patricia (Pat) Anne Nuttall, OBE is a British virologist and acarologist known for her research on tick-borne diseases. Her discoveries include the fact that pathogens can be transmitted between vectors feeding on a host without being detectable in the host's blood. She is also a science administrator who served as the director of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (2001–11). As of 2015, she is professor of arbovirology in the Department of Zoology of the University of Oxford.
References
- ↑ Harris, M P (1965). "Puffinosis among Manx Shearwaters on Skokholm" (PDF). British Birds. 58 (10): 426–434.
- ↑ Macdonald, J W; McMartin, D A; Walker, K G; Carins, M; Dennis, R H (1967). "Puffinosis in Fulmars in Orkney and Shetland" (PDF). British Birds. 60 (9): 356–360.