Know Your Neighbours: Sea Birds

August-September 2003

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
To download a pdf copy of the magazine click here: > DOWNLOAD

by Bryan Nichols

We’ve already looked at waterfowl (Dec 2002) and shorebirds (Feb 2003) but let’s face it—seabirds are where the romance and adventure are. Have you heard tales of the Black Pelican leading rescuers to ships in the Northeast? What about sightings of giant birds in Alaska that might be the mythical Thunderbird, or Stellar sea eagles wandering over from Asia? How about the unfortunate albatross and the trigger happy ancient mariner?

Though it’s tragic, there’s a poem that’s packed with great lines. “Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink.” Any paddler who’s forgotten a water bottle can relate to that one. If you don’t know how it all ends, track down Coleridge’s poem. My other favorite is Poe’s “The Raven”, so it seems obvious that all the best poetry is about birds.

To many of us, seabirds symbolize the vast oceans. Some species can drink seawater and excrete salt through glands on their beaks, freeing them from land— sooty terns spend up to ten years at sea. Others dive to remarkable depths—Emperor penguins can hunt over half a kilometer down, holding their breath for 18 minutes. Many seabirds really are the wide ranging sailors we imagine them to be— Arctic terns travel a mind boggling forty thousand kilometers a year, riding the winds from our Arctic to Antarctica and back.

WHAT’S A SEABIRD?

Arguably any bird that spends a chunk of its life on or over the ocean qualifies, but we’ll concentrate on a few families that have Northwest representatives (alas, there are no penguins here). The 13 albatrosses (Diomedeidae) are renowned for their size and skill at riding the wind. Family Procellariidae contains pelagic seabirds including fulmars, petrels and shearwaters. The seven Pelecanidae are big birds with big bills—bet you can guess what they are. The six jaegers and skuas (Stercorariidae) are mid-sized birds notorious for their midair thievery. Family Laridae is a whopper— there are about 87 gulls and terns.

For folks keen on identifying birds down to the species level, the genus Larus is something of a white feathered nightmare. Sure, it’s a gull. But which gull? There are a bewildering 45 species in Larus, many of them similar looking, particularly in their youth. I simply plucked the most common one. Finally, the auk family (Alcidae) takes up the biggest part of this issue’s checklist. Why? Well, we Northwest kayakers see a lot of these chunky diving birds up close. They’re our version of penguins, and include some of the world’s cutest birds, the puffins.

WARNING—DON’T SHOOT SEABIRDS

And I had done a hellish thing,

And it would work’em woe:

For all averred,

I had killed the bird That made the breeze to blow

Coleridge’s becalmed mariner notwithstanding, humanity is at least as stupid, greedy and practical as it is romantic and poetic. Even the most pelagic seabirds have to nest on land, and that’s usually where they are the most vulnerable. The unafraid birds were easy pickings for hungry sailors and the feather trade—some were literally herded onto ships. Easily spooked parents would abandon their nests, or fail to protect them from opportunistic scavengers. For a bird, it’s a catch-22 en route to extinction.

The great auk, a flightless, 75cm seabird that was considered the “northern penguin”, was ruthlessly harvested from its breeding islands in the North Atlantic for food, feathers and even (appallingly) bait—chicks were used as fishing lures. The entire species vanished by the mid 1800s. Of course we’ve come a long way, birdy and most nesting colonies are protected by laws now.

The Orca Pass area has a great nesting colony—Mandarte Island. Though it’s relatively exposed and you shouldn’t go ashore, it’s a worthwhile paddle from Sidney Spit. Many wildlife charter boats in the area stop beside it. Orca Pass also has several areas that are of seasonal importance to migrating birds. Quiet bays rich with invertebrate life are just the sort of places they need to rest and refuel.

THINGS TO AVOID WHILE PADDLING

Oystercatcher nests. These striking, orange- billed shorebirds nest on small rocky places just above the intertidal, just the sort of area we are likely to disturb when we get out and wander around. They prefer small islands without predators, of course, so minimize your wandering during nesting season (April to August) and take the hint when they vocalize at you.

Cormorant nests. Cormorants are having a tough go of it, and don’t need the added stress of being shooed off their precipitous nests. When you are approach cliffs or sea caves too closely, they may fly off, leaving their young unprotected.

Small, rocky islands with grassy tops. Stay off these islands, which are often refuges. Even if you don’t actually crush eggs with your stomping feet, you disturb parents. It often boils down to crows—they’re smart, they’re not easily spooked and they’re opportunistic predators on eggs and chicks. Which means if you walk around on a small island, disturbing birds, it’s likely that you’re helping crows help themselves to unprotected youngsters and egg McCormorants. You don’t really want to do that do you? And whether you do or not, disturbing nesting seabirds is illegal.

THINGS TO LOOK FOR

Decent binoculars. You’ll notice a “don’t approach too closely theme” in much of this issue, and binoculars are a good way to get closer without being disruptive. Sometimes they are a necessity—murrelets are tiny even when they pop up right beside your kayak, never mind when they warily eye you from further out. Binoculars also help you appreciate the details, like how much of the sea star is down the gull’s gullet, or whether or not there is a jaeger mixed in with that bunch of terns offshore.

Bait balls. Focus your binoculars on a bait ball and not only will you see whirling gulls and eagles above, but you might spot auklets or murres coming up from below– these diving predators are often responsible for driving small fish to the surface.

Herring spawns. Food, food everywhere. When schools of herring lay their eggs, it’s not just the fish getting lucky. You’ll see all sorts of birds (and mammals) feeding away in the murky green water, and when eggs wash up on shore there will be birds aplenty there as well.

Winter rafts. Protected bays in winter often become stopovers for thousands of seabirds, a fact which First Nations hunters took advantage of with nets and bows. Try binoculars and cameras instead.

A Bird for All Seasons. If you paddle the same area regularly, keep your eyes on who’s out there with you. You’ll notice that a few seabirds seem to be around all year, but many come and go. Certain birds can be abundant one week and gone the next, winging their way to feeding or breeding areas to the north, south and interior of the continent. This ever changing cast of feathery characters is one of the things that makes paddling so interesting.

FURTHER READING

Seabirds An Identification Guide

Peter Harrison

Houghton Mifflin, 1985 448 pages,

US $32 ISBN 0-395-60291-2

A comprehensive field guide to every seabird on the planet.

Checklist 32 - SEABIRDS

DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT Phalacrocorax auritus

Northwest paddlers might bump into three species of cormorant—the smaller pelagic has white wing patches in breeding season; Brandt’s is rare. All three are dark, heavy-looking birds with snaky necks. Built for diving and catching fish underwater, they are slow to lift off. That classic, batlike pose standing with spread wings is to dry their feathers. Kayakers see them all the time, especially since they nest on rocks, cliffs and even sea caves that are unapproachable by any other mode of transportation.

BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS Diomedea nigripes

I couldn’t resist including an albatross, but if you see one from a kayak then you’re making one heck of a crossing or one of you is lost. These huge (wingspan of 2 m) dark birds gracefully soar over the windy oceans, breeding on tiny Pacific islands and only occasionally approaching our shore. They skim squid from the surface and are often spotted by boats fishing offshore.

SOOTY SHEARWATER Puffinus griseus

These abundant birds breed way down south and visit us in the summer en route to Alaska. This massive migration is aided by their remarkable gliding skills—they can be identified by their narrow wings and flap-flap-glide style. Most of the time they’re way out to sea, but flocks containing millions of birds have been spotted from shore.

COMMON MURRE Uria aalge

Looking something like a penguin on a diet, murres can be spotted all year, though they nest on cliffs on the outer coast in early summer— the only time they come ashore. Also like penguins, they “fly” underwater, diving to over 150 meters.

PIGEON GUILLEMOT Cepphus columba

Orca Pass paddlers see these little seabirds all the time—they prefer protected areas and nest on coastal cliffs. They are black with white wing patches and absurdly red feet. Small groups are notorious for “waterdancing”, a noisy affair involving diving, flapping and yes, you guessed it—looking down each other’s throats.

RHINOCEROS AUKLET Cerorhinca monoceratas

These odd birds can be seen all year in the Orca Pass area, but it’s summer when they stand out since they actually grow a rhinoceros-like horn on their bills. They are related to puffins and have that chunky look.

TUFTED PUFFIN Fratercula cirrhata

Who can resist a puffin? They’ve got rotund little bodies, huge beaks and ridiculous looking feathers on their heads. Alas, they aren’t exactly common here. They require grassy, predator free islands for their nest burrows, and we’ve built on some of that real estate. In the water, gill nets have exacted a terrible toll—they (and other diving relatives) get caught and drown. Look for survivors near Mandarte, and Lopez Isand apparently has them as well.

PARASITIC JAEGER Stercorarius parasiticus

This is a streamlined predator with a nasty name. Jaeger means hunter across the pond, and these birds, which look like a cross between a gull and a falcon, hunt all sorts of things including lemmings and other birds. We’re most likely to see the occasional visitor that follows other birds inshore. They are a thrill to watch, sneaking up on gulls and terns and then relentlessly harassing them in flight until they drop their food.

MARBLED MURRELET Brachyramphus marmoratus

Now famous for needing old growth for nests, we see these drab little birds as they bob near shore. They don’t seem to have a neck, and dive with a “butt up” forward roll. They undergo a remarkable change in camouflage—in winter, they are the typical countershaded light below and dark on top of many birds and fish. In summer, for nesting, they wear a mottled brown outfit, all the better to blend in on the mossy tree limbs they are said to prefer.

GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL Larus glaucescens

This is our common big white gull with pinkish legs, though there are a number of look-alikes and hybrids. Large, bold, quick to learn and adaptable, they do a lot of things well and have expanded their range with the help of humanity. Though gulls don’t have a great reputation (too much excrement and time at the dump), wild ones are fun to watch—I love how they eat ochre stars, which aren’t exactly bite sized or soft.

BONAPARTE’S GULL Xema sabini

These little gulls are very likable, and can be seasonally abundant, visiting from inland breeding spots. Dark headed in summer, they are notably small and graceful compared to the big gulls. Bobbing along in the water or standing on kelp, they are not easily spooked, and will often allow close passes by kayaks and other boats.

COMMON TERN Sterna hirundo

These terns look a bit like gulls with sharp beaks, black caps and long tail feathers. They seem lighter in flight, but it’s great to watch them plummet head-first into the water for fish.