There are not a lot of bird species in the Arctic but the number of individuals of some species like kittiwakes and guillemots can be enormous. Only a dozen or so species of birds can live in the Arctic all year round. Even for these hardiest of species, most will migrate to southern portions of the Arctic during the harshest part of winter.
Puffins
I have seen puffins before but never photographed them. I was really excited when one swam close to our zodiac and played up for the camera. Such a beautiful, interesting, comical looking bird with so much personality. I just love them.
Nicknamed “sea parrots” and sometimes "clowns of the sea", puffins mate with the same partner year after year. They flap their wings up to 400 times per minute and can fly 90km per hour. They can pack 10 fish into their bills at once thanks to their rough tongues and spiny bills which stop them the fish falling out. In fact, this is one of the ways in which male puffins try to impress their mates. "Look here, baby, see how many fish I can fit in my bill. I'm a provider!" Baby puffins are called pufflings.
Guillemots
Guillemots are sea birds that nest in huge colonies, often with tens of thousands of pairs squeezed onto narrow cliff ledges. The egg of a guillemot is flat on one side to stop it rolling off cliff ledges where they nest. When the chicks hatch, they are hatched with eyes open, covered with down, and capable of leaving the nest soon after hatching. They are tended and fed by both parents for about three weeks, and then – before they are able to fly – they leap off their cliff ledges and into the water below where they are led off to spend another 3-4 weeks learning to forage with the the males in the ocean. If the colony does not overhang the sea directly, many of the young land on the rocks or vegetated slopes below. They are surprisingly resilient, but many will die from the fall. Also, foxes, gulls and skuas often lie in wait for the chicks and pounce on them as they land. It’s a very dangerous step out into the world for baby guillemots!
 |
| We saw vast numbers of guillemots flying past the ship in V shaped formations. Apparently, they do this as a way to conserve energy. |
Kittiwakes
Kittiwakes are the most numerous type of gull in the world and exist in huge numbers in the Arctic. They are the only gull-like bird in the world to make cliff dwellings. One of the highlights of my whole trip was visiting the the bird cliffs of Gnälodden where I got to see many thousands of them nesting and roosting. Kittiwakes get their common name from their calls – “kittee-wa-aaake!” Kittiwakes hunt in flocks during the daytime, floating on the water and dipping their heads in to catch fish, or making the occasional shallow dive. We also saw them roosting on icebergs and when ice fell off the glaciers, they flocked over the disturbed surface of the ocean, diving down to eat the nutritious sediment that had been brought up to the surface.
 |
| Kittiwakes roosting on icebergs |
 |
| Kittiwakes nesting at the Gnälodden bird cliff. |
 |
| Kittiwakes flying to and from their nests and roosts at at the Gnälodden bird cliff. |
Eider ducks
Eider ducks can dive quite deep, they’ve been documented diving up to 20 meters! This is where they catch their meals which often consist of mollusks, sea stars, crabs and other invertebrates which they swallow whole. They are a large ducks and while they’re agile divers, their attempts to take off aren’t as graceful. Eider down is the warmest feather in the world – nature's technology for storing heat and surviving cold Arctic winters.
Arctic tern
If birds could earn frequent flyer miles, the Arctic tern would definitely earn the most. It is famous for its polar to polar migration, flying from its Arctic breeding grounds to Antarctic and back again each year. In doing so, they can fly up to 90000 km or more (more than twice the circumference of the earth). They can fly a staggering 9000 km without stopping. If an Arctic tern lives to thirty years, which some do, it travels some 2.7 million km during its lifetime. This is the equivalent of 3 times to the moon and back!
Arctic terns migrate to follow the summer sun as they need good sunlight to see and hunt their prey which consists of small, schooling fish and pelagic invertebrates. By going from Arctic summer to Antarctic summer, they experiences more daylight than any other animal or bird on earth.
 |
| The Arctic Terns’ wings are long and narrow to reduce how much energy they spend when flying |
Fulmar
We saw many fulmars flying past our ship. Fulmars are one of the few bird species that have a well-developed sense of smell. They use it to locate fish by the smell of fish oil rising to the surface of the water. They create a kind of stomach oil that they store in a section of their stomachs which they spray out as a defensive measure. It can gum up the wings of predator birds, causing them to plunge to their deaths. They also regurgitate this oil as an energy-rich resource they use for long flights or to feed their young. Like some other seabirds, Fulmars have a gland above their nasal passage that excretes a saline solution to help them get rid of all the salt in the water they imbibe while feeding. Although Fulmars looks like gulls they are actually related to petrels.
Arctic skua
These far-ranging fliers are known for their love of (and skill for) thievery, pilfering as much as 95% of their winter migration diet. Apart from chasing other birds to steal their catches, they do also kill and eat other seabirds. Their victims include gulls, terns and puffins. Although they’re considered a “northern” bird because their breeding grounds are in the north, Arctic Skuas have in fact been spotted as far south as the South Pole during their winter migration period. Scientists think that the white flashes on the wings are the Arctic Skuas’ signal to each other to not steal from them, that they are fellow parasitical hunters.
Read more
New birds seen
- Common eider
- Black guillemot
- Brünnich’s guillemot
- Arctic skua
0 comments:
Post a Comment