Southern fulmar

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Southern fulmar
Fulmarus glacialoides - SE Tasmania.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Procellariiformes
Family: Procellariidae
Genus: Fulmarus
Species:
F. glacialoides
Binomial name
Fulmarus glacialoides
(Smith, 1840)
Fulmarus glacialoides map.svg

The southern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialoides) is a seabird of the Southern Hemisphere. Along with the northern fulmar, F. glacialis, it belongs to the fulmar genus Fulmarus in the family Procellariidae, the true petrels. It is also known as the Antarctic fulmar [1] or silver-grey fulmar. [2]

Contents

It is largely pale grey above and white below with a distinctive white patch on the wing. It breeds on the coast of Antarctica and on surrounding islands, moving north in winter. It nests in colonies on cliffs, laying a single egg on a ledge or crevice. Its diet includes krill, fish and squid picked from the water's surface.

Taxonomy

The southern fulmar formally described and illustrated in 1840 by the Scottish zoologist Andrew Smith in his major work Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa. He placed it with all the other petrels in the genus Procellaria and coined the binomial name Procellaria glacialoides. [3] The southern fulmar is now placed with the northern fulmar in the genus Fulmarus that was introduced in 1826 by the English naturalist James Stephens. [4] [5] The genus name comes from the Old Norse Fúlmár meaning "foul-mew" or "foul-gull" because of the birds' habit of ejecting a foul-smelling oil. The specific epithet glacialoides combines the specific glacialis introduced by Carl Linnaeus in 1761 for the northern fulmar with the Ancient Greek -oidēs meaning "resembling". [6] The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. [5] Molecular data suggests that the two fulmar species diverged during the Pleistocene epoch. [7]

Description

It is a fairly large, bulky petrel, 45 to 50 cm (18–20 in) long with a wingspan of 110 to 120 cm (43–47 in). [8] The male has an average weight of 795 g (28.0 oz) while the smaller female weighs around 740 g (26 oz). These weights increase to 1,005 and 932 g (35.5 and 32.9 oz) at the start of a shift incubating the eggs. [7] The male has a wing length of 34 cm (13 in), bill length of 44.6 mm (1.76 in), tarsus length of 52.1 mm (2.05 in) and tail length of 12.4 cm (4.88 in). The female has a wing length of 33.9 cm (13.3 in), bill length of 43 mm (1.69 in), tarsus length of 51.5 mm (2.03 in) and tail length of 12.1 cm (4.8 in). [7]

The bird flies with a mixture of shallow flaps and long glides, often looking down to scan the water. The wings are fairly broad and rounded and are held stiff. The plumage is mainly pale silvery-grey above and white below. The head is white with a pale grey crown. The wingtips are blackish with a large white patch and the wings have a dark rear edge. The legs and feet are pale blue. The bill is pink with a black tip and dark bluish naricorns. First-year birds have a more slender bill than the adults. [9]

It is usually silent but has loud, cackling calls which are uttered at the nest or in feeding flocks. Courting birds produce soft droning and guttural croaking calls.

Distribution and habitat

There are colonies on a number of the islands around Antarctica such as the South Sandwich Islands, South Orkney Islands, South Shetland Islands, Bouvet Island, and Peter I Island. The bird also breeds at several sites along the mainland coast of Antarctica. [10]

At sea, it mainly occurs along the outer edge of the pack ice in summer with water temperatures of −1.5 to 0.5 °C. [7] In winter, it regularly ranges north to around 40°S latitude. It occurs further north in the cool waters of the Humboldt Current, reaching Peru. Small numbers are seen off the coasts of South Africa, southern Australia and New Zealand. Many birds can be washed up on beaches after storms. There are several unconfirmed reports from the west coast of North America. [11]

It is a common species with a population of at least 4 million individuals. [7] About a million pairs breed on the South Sandwich Islands alone. [12] The species is not thought to be at risk of extinction and is classed as least concern by Birdlife International. [13]

Behaviour

In flight Fulmarus glacialoides in flight - SE Tasmania.jpg
In flight

Breeding

Egg of Fulmarus glacialoides Fulmar antarctique MHNT.jpg
Egg of Fulmarus glacialoides

The breeding colonies may contain hundreds of birds and are on cliffs in ice-free areas with the birds arriving in October. The courtship display consists of a pair sitting alongside each other while calling, waving their heads and nibbling and preening each other. The nest is a shallow scrape lined with stone chips. It is built in a spot sheltered from the wind on a ledge or scree slope or in a crevice. A single, white egg is laid during late November or early December. It measures 76 by 51 mm (2.99 by 2.01 in) and weighs about 103 g (3.6 oz). [9] It is incubated for about 45 days with both parents taking turns in stints of 3–9 days. The down feathers of the young birds are initially white apart from a blue-grey wash on the mantle. The second set of down feathers is grey on the upperparts and flanks while the rest of the underparts and the forehead remain white. [9] The young fledge after around 52 days. Poor weather can lead to high mortality rates among eggs and chicks and they are also preyed on by skuas and sheathbills. [14] Breeding success increases as the parents mature, improving from 48% at age 6–8 to 87% at age 18–20. [7]

Feeding

Southern fulmars frequently gather in flocks, often with other species of seabird such as Cape petrels, when there is a concentration of food like a school of krill or around whaling ships and trawlers. Krill and other crustaceans are the most important component of the diet but the species also feeds on small fish such as the Antarctic silverfish and squid such as Psychroteuthis , Gonatus and Galiteuthis . [14] Food is usually picked from the surface of the water but the bird will occasionally dive. [14]

Related Research Articles

Fulmar Genus of birds

The fulmars are tubenosed seabirds of the family Procellariidae. The family consists of two extant species and two extinct fossil species from the Miocene.

Petrel Seabird

Petrels are tube-nosed seabirds in the bird order Procellariiformes.

Northern fulmar Species of bird

The northern fulmar, fulmar, or Arctic fulmar is a highly abundant seabird 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.

Antarctic petrel Species of bird

The Antarctic petrel is a boldly marked dark brown and white petrel, found in Antarctica, most commonly in the Ross and Weddell Seas. They eat Antarctic krill, fish, and small squid. They feed while swimming but can dive from both the surface and the air.

Giant petrel Genus of birds

Giant petrels form a genus, Macronectes, from the family Procellariidae, which consists of two species. They are the largest birds of this family. Both species are restricted to the Southern Hemisphere, and though their distributions overlap significantly, with both species breeding on the Prince Edward Islands, Crozet Islands, Kerguelen Islands, Macquarie Island, and South Georgia, many southern giant petrels nest farther south, with colonies as far south as Antarctica. Giant petrels are extremely aggressive predators and scavengers, inspiring another common name, the stinker. South Sea whalers used to call them gluttons.

<i>Procellaria</i> Genus of birds

Procellaria is a genus of Southern Ocean long-winged seabirds related to prions, and within the order Procellariiformes. The black petrel ranges in the Pacific Ocean, and as far north as Central America. The spectacled petrel is confined to the Atlantic Ocean, and the Westland petrel to the Pacific Ocean. The white-chinned and grey petrel range throughout the higher latitudes of the Southern Ocean.

Blue petrel Species of bird

The blue petrel is a small seabird in the shearwater and petrel family, Procellariidae. This small petrel is the only member of the genus Halobaena, but is closely allied to the prions. It is distributed across the Southern Ocean but breeds at a few island sites, all close to the Antarctic Convergence zone.

Fulmarine petrel Group of birds

The fulmarine petrels or fulmar-petrels are a distinct group of petrels within the family Procellariidae. They are the most variable of the four groups within the Procellariidae, differing greatly in size and biology. They do, however, have a unifying feature, their skull, and in particular their nasal tubes. They are predominantly found in the Southern Ocean with one species, the northern fulmar, ranging in the North Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

Fairy prion Species of bird

The fairy prion is a small seabird with the standard prion plumage of blue-grey upperparts with a prominent dark "M" marking and white underneath. The sexes are alike. This is a small prion of the low subantarctic and subtropic seas.

White-chinned petrel Species of bird

The white-chinned petrel or Cape hen, is a large shearwater in the family Procellariidae. It ranges around the Southern Ocean as far north as southern Australia, Peru and Namibia, and breeds colonially on scattered islands. The white-chinned petrel was formerly considered to be conspecific with the spectacled petrel.

Broad-billed prion Species of bird

The broad-billed prion is a small pelagic seabird in the shearwater and petrel family, Procellariidae. It is the largest prion, with grey upperparts plumage, and white underparts. The sexes are alike. It ranges from the southeast Atlantic to New Zealand mainly near the Antarctic Convergence. In the south Atlantic it breeds on Tristan da Cunha and Gough Island; in the south Pacific it breeds on islands off the south coast of South Island, New Zealand and on the Chatham Islands. It has many other names that have been used such as blue-billed dove-petrel, broad-billed dove-petrel, long-billed prion, common prion, icebird, and whalebird.

Antarctic prion Species of bird

The Antarctic prion also known as the dove prion, or totorore in Māori, is the largest of the prions, a genus of small petrels of the Southern Ocean.

Grey petrel Species of bird

The grey petrel, also called the brown petrel, pediunker or grey shearwater is a species of seabird in the Procellariidae, or petrel family. It is pelagic and occurs in the open seas of the Southern Hemisphere, mainly between 32°S and 58°S.

References

  1. 1 2 BirdLife International (2018). "Fulmarus glacialoides". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2018: e.T22697870A132609920. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22697870A132609920.en . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ↑ Hockey, P.A.R. (1994). Birds of Southern Africa, Checklist and Alternative Names. Cape Town: Struik. p. 47. ISBN   1-86825-631-6.
  3. ↑ Smith, Andrew (1840). Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa. Vol. 2, Aves. London: Smith, Elder. Plate 51, text.
  4. ↑ Stephens, James Francis (1826). Shaw, George (ed.). General Zoology, or Systematic Natural History. Vol. 13, Part 1. London: Kearsley et al. p. 236.
  5. 1 2 Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2022). "Petrels, albatrosses". IOC World Bird List Version 12.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  6. ↑ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp.  166, 173. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Brooke, M. (2004). "Procellariidae". Albatrosses And Petrels Across The World. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN   0-19-850125-0.
  8. ↑ Pizzey, Graham; Knight, Frank (1997). The Graham Pizzey & Frank Knight Field Guide to the Birds of Australia. London, UK: HarperCollins.
  9. 1 2 3 Watson, George E. (1975). Birds of the Antarctic and Subantarctic. Washington, D.C. USA: American Geophysical Union.
  10. ↑ Harrison, Peter (1987). A Field Guide to Seabirds of the World. Lexington, Massachusetts: The Stephen Greene Press.
  11. ↑ Banks, Richard C. (1998). "Supposed northern records of the Southern Fulmar". Western Birds. 19 (3): 121–124.
  12. ↑ Heather, Barrie D.; Robertson, Hugh A. (1997). The field guide to the birds of New Zealand. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
  13. ↑ BirdLife International (2009). "Southern Fulmar – BirdLife Species Factsheet". Data Zone. Retrieved 17 Jul 2009.
  14. 1 2 3 del Hoyo, Joseph; Elliot, Andrew; Sargatal, Jordi (1992). Ostrich to ducks. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 1. Barcelona, Spain: Lynx Edicions.
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