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In most seabird colonies several different species will nest on the same colony, often exhibiting some niche separation. Seabirds can nest in trees (if any are available), on the ground (with or without nests), on cliffs, in burrows under the ground and in rocky crevices. Colony size is a major aspect of the social environment of colonial birds.
The plumage of seabirds is thought in many cases to be for camouflage, both defensive (the colour of US Navy battleships is the same as that of Antarctic prions, [20] and in both cases it reduces visibility at sea) and aggressive (the white underside possessed by many seabirds helps hide them from prey below). The usually black wing tips help ...
The term seabird is used for many families of birds in several orders that spend the majority of their lives at sea. Seabirds make up some, if not all, of the families in the following orders: Procellariiformes, Sphenisciformes, Pelecaniformes, and Charadriiformes. Many seabirds remain at sea for several consecutive years at a time, without ...
A few species nest in small or dispersed groups, but most breed in colonies of up to a few hundred pairs, often alongside other seabirds such as gulls or skimmers. [5] Large tern species tend to form larger colonies, [18] which in the case of the sooty tern can contain up to two million pairs. Large species nest very close together and sit ...
Laridae is a family of medium to large seabirds and includes gulls, terns, and skimmers. Gulls are typically grey or white, often with black markings on the head or wings. They have stout, longish bills and webbed feet. Terns are a group of generally medium to large seabirds typically with grey or white plumage, often with black markings on the ...
The two fulmars are closely related seabirds occupying the same niche in different oceans. The northern fulmar ( Fulmarus glacialis ) or just fulmar lives in the North Atlantic and North Pacific , whereas the southern fulmar , ( Fulmarus glacialoides ) is, as its name implies, a bird of the Southern Ocean .
Many shearwaters are long-distance migrants, perhaps most spectacularly sooty shearwaters, which cover distances in excess of 14,000 km (8,700 mi) from their breeding colonies on the Falkland Islands (52°S 60°W) to as far as 70° north latitude in the North Atlantic Ocean off northern Norway, and around New Zealand to as far as 60° north latitude in the North Pacific Ocean off Alaska.
The genus Sula was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. [3] The type species is the brown booby. [4] The name is derived from súla, the Old Norse and Icelandic word for the other member of the family Sulidae, the gannet.