Seabirds are not seen on land unless they are nesting.  They are birds that are adapted to be out at sea.  We wouldn’t see them in Colorado. 

General Sea Bird Adaptations

Webbed Feet

It may seem obvious, but webbed feet are one of them.  They are necessary for maneuvering in water.  When taking off they allow the bird to push off of the water.

Buoyant Feathers

A healthy bird preens its feathers often.  They are essential to giving the bird its “superhero” qualities.  Three types are present.  The flight feathers provide a force for uplift and are essential for flight and gliding.  Down feathers are necessary for insulation.  The climate is extreme.  Some of these birds venture to Antarctica.  The third kind of feathers is for covering the bird.  All the feathers are waterproof.  Some birds like shag, we see cormorants in Colorado; don’t have downy feathers for buoyancy and warmth.  They lack this layer to dive after prey just like we would wear a weight belt when scuba diving.  Shags need land or an island to dry out and to stay warm. 

Salt glands

Seabirds excrete excess salt with these glands located in their head.  They osmoregulate the salt they drink and food they ingest.    Osmoregulation is like the water makers on board that push out the salt and other impurities to make fresh water.  Wow!

In general seabirds are not colorful.  Black, grey and white are the colors of the day.  Dark colors are on the top and light colors or white are on the bottom.  This allows the birds to be unseen by their prey.  Modern naval warships utilize this same camouflage in their paint schemes. 

Gliding and Dynamic Soaring-Energy Conservation at Sea

Most seabirds have long narrow wings with a reduced ability for powered flight.  I love watching the Wandering Albatross soaring above the water. 

Slope soaring –is the method where the bird turns into the wind gains altitude then soars out across the water.

Graphic from http://www.apogeerockets.com/education/images/dynamic_soaring.gif

Video of Sitting and Soaring Albatross in a Swell

big-swell-sitting-and-soaring

Dynamic soaring is more complicated and involves cruising over the waves as they push the air up vertically.  The bird is then elevated on this updraft.  They are doing this when they appear to be touching the water with their wings and racing the wave surface. 

These techniques allow them to ride the wind for hours without flapping and wasting energy.  I also see them sitting on the water at times. 

Storm Petrel-Mighty Mini

Graphic from

http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/Bio21Tuat01-02-fig-Bio21Tuat01-02_075a.html

Name

I was amazed two days ago to see this little bird, smaller than a blackbird fluttering amongst the waves.  My first though was get on board, because you are going to die out there.  The name petrel comes from Saint Peter who was thought to walk on water with Jesus.  They are called storm petrels because they seek shelter in the lee side of boats at sea during storms.  

Identifying Behavior

Then it was bouncing off of the water.  And sure enough it appeared to hitting the water.  It would skip along the waves with its feet out.  With some research I found out that this is its feeding behavior.  Plucking invertebrates, small fish and droplets of oil off of the water surface is its life force. 

Reproduction

The White Faced Petrel is the most common type of petrel in the waters around New Zealand.  They mate for life and have one white egg, which they lay in a burrow or on a crack on a rock ledge.  They return to the same rookery every year. 

Grey Headed Mollymawk/Albatross

Graphic from

http://www.nzbirds.com/birds/mollymawkgreyheaded.html

The more we observed the seabirds around our ship, the more we noticed differences.  There was an albatross that wasn’t as big as the Wandering.  Especially when you saw them sitting next to each other they were of a different size. 

Photo of Albatross and Mollymawk

Identification

The Grey Headed Mollymawk is 80 centimeters in body length whereas the Albatross is up to 118 cm..  It has a grey head and blacktopped wings and some black on its tail.  If you can see its beak it is yellow and grey. 

Behaviors and Demise

These guys nest on Campbell Island and follow fishing boats.  They follow us for our garbage. Mollywawks are capable of diving up to 7 meters underwater after their favorite prey squid and krill but don’t do it often.   There has a marked decline in their population from 43,000 to 7,800 in the last 40 years due to a decline in food and being caught in fishing nets as by-catch in the 70’s and 80’s. 

They are one of our most numerous guardians around the boat. 

Wandering Albatross

As mentioned before, these are the big ones with wingspans up to 3 meters.  Albatross are kind of goofy looking when they are not soaring.  When taking off or landing they look awkward running on the water. They have an acute sense of smell, which is unusual for birds.  Smell aids them in identifying potential food sources. 

Video of Albatross Eating Organics

birds-in-garbage2

Video of Dumping and Birds

the-motherlode

Fishing for Albatross

After our drop yesterday I was spin casting with a squid lure and the birds came at my lure.  A bad thing!  I can’t imagine one of these huge birds tangles up in a fishing line.  We reeled in our equipment right away.  This was the closest we had gotten to catch anything.  The birds were also gathering around Anne’s bait-ham. 

Photo of Albatross in the Water Waiting 

Garbage Man Dan and Woman Anne

Items that we would throw into the compost are thrown into the ocean.  With the kitchen staff’s permission we got the ok to throw mainly turkey bones and lettuce over yesterday.  All the Petrels, Albatross and Mollymawks were off gathering the yummies.  Very exciting!  I get this job the rest of the cruise.   Yesss!  Hopefully the boat will be going slower next time to get some video of the feeding frenzy. 

Photo of Dan and India from the Kitchen the Supplier of the Goods