Seabirds

"At length did cross an Albatross,
Through the fog it came.
As if it had been a Christian soul,
We hailed it in God's name."

-- Samuel Taylor Coleridge,
"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."




Some 35 species of seabirds live south of the Antarctic Convergence, but only 19 of these breed on the Antarctic continent itself. These include pelagic, or free-ranging, species such as the albatrosses and petrels. Coastal species, by contrast, forage close to the shore, and among them are found skuas, cormorants, terns and sheathbills.

Of all the seabirds of Antarctica, the legendary albatross is the graceful master of the stormy southern seas. In the early 17th century mariners believed the souls of drowned sailors were reincarnated in albatrosses, reinforcing the fear that killing them would bring bad luck -- the theme of Coleridge's poetic epic.














Albatrosses

Albatrosses spend most of their lives on the wing, gliding and circling the wind systems. There is believed to be a total of 750,000 breeding pairs of the 13 species of these massive birds. They feed mainly on a diet of squid, and breed on the sub-antarctic islands. The adults share incubation, brooding and feeding of the single chick.

The Wandering Albatross, most famous and largest of the albatrosses, roams the Southern Ocean. They have a wingspan of around 11 to 11.5 feet ( 2.9 -3.45m) and weigh around 18 lbs ( 88.2 kg). Effortlessly soaring on the up-draughts, they seem to stay aloft for days on end. Adults have been recorded flying up to 550 miles per day at speeds of 50 mph, and in a single foraging flight they can cover an incredible 1800 to 9300 miles, a distance greater than the diameter of the earth. In today's world, their main threat is being snared in gill-nets and caught on longline hooks

Other albatross species of the southern oceans include the Royal, similar in size to the Wanderer; the Light-mantled sooty, one of the most beautiful of all birds; and the Gray-headed, the Yellow nosed and the Black-browed albatrosses. Return













Petrels, Shearwaters and Diving Petrels

There are many species of petrel in the Antarctic. All have dense plumage and webbed feet. They usually feed at sea, but remain closer to the coast than the albatross. The largest are the South Giant Petrel and its close relation, the Northern Giant. These carrion eaters were dubbed "stinkers" by the early whalers and sealers. One of the smallest is the Wilson's storm-petrel that skips across the surface of the water as it feeds, stirring up small marine organisms with its feet.

Snow Petrel

Possibly the most beautiful bird in the Antarctic, the Snow Petrel is pure white with black eyes and black underdown. They live in the Antarctic year round and can be found up to 435 miles (700 km) inland on isolated nunataks (the tips of mountain that poke through the icecap).

Cape Petrel

Also known as the Pintardos (Spanish for "painted ones") because of the striking pattern on their back and wings. These pigeon sized birds nest on sea cliffs and in rock crevices and can live for 15 to 20 years.

Antarctic Petrel

Antarctic Petrels live and nest exclusively in the Antarctic, spending the winter in the pack-ice. They are mostly found in the Ross Sea region. Return


Southern Fulmar

The Southern or Antarctic fulmar breeds on steep rocky cliffs on the coast of Antarctica and often congregates in large "rafts" on the ocean to rest, or feed on krill. Return





Skuas

Skuas are members of the gull family, and in North America the coastal skuas are known as jaegers. All skuas are fiercely predatory, and the two skuas found in the southern oceans, the Antarctic and the Brown, are no exception. Should any creature venture too close to a skua's nest, it will be attacked every time -- lending the skua its nickname, "raptor of the south." Skuas nest in rocky areas around the continent to raise just one chick, but outside the breeding season they roam the oceans feeding on its krill. During the summer they stake territories near rookeries, raiding them for penguin eggs and chicks. Return


Cormorants

The Blue-eyed Shag, or Cormorant, is found on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula, the Scotia Arc, South Georgia and the western coast of South America. Its nest is on cliff tops close to the ocean, and they fish by diving and swimming underwater. Some consider the Kerguelen Cormorant -- found on Kerguelen and Heard Islands -- to be a separate species. Elsewhere in the world, particularly in Asia, cormorants are used for catching prey by fishermen, who tie a ring around their necks; and the cormorant species known as the guanay is the source of the fertilizer guano found in abundance along South America's Pacific coast. Return


Terns

Terns are widespread around the globe, a familiar sight in most coastal waters. But the most famous species is the Arctic tern, which arrives in large numbers in Antarctica each summer to feed after a journey of some 12,000 miles (20,000 km) from their nesting grounds in the far north. Their migration is the greatest journey of any bird species. In this behavior, the Arctic tern encounters the most daylight per year of any species in its long flights between the poles. To accomplish this incredible feat, they are on the wing for eight months of the year.

The Antarctic tern is very similar in appearance to its Arctic cousin, a smallish white bird with a black cap and mask and red bill. During the summer months it breeds on the edge of the Antarctic continent, particularly on the Peninsula, and on most of the Antarctic islands. Return

Snowy Sheathbill

Sheathbills, the only bird without webbed feet in the Antarctic, are notorious scavengers around the rocky shorelines of the Antarctic Peninsula and sub-antarctic islands. Return

Photography ©Jonathan Chester, Extreme Images© 1995 Terraquest. All Rights Reserved.