Northern Fulmar

The Northern Fulmar is a thickset, gull-like seabird found across the cold waters of the North Atlantic and North Pacific. It occurs in two main color forms: a pale morph with a grey back, white head and underparts, and a smaller dark morph, more common in Arctic and Pacific populations, that is uniformly grey-brown.

Although it resembles a gull at a glance, the Northern Fulmar belongs to the tubenose family, related to albatrosses and petrels, and shares their tube-shaped nostrils atop a thick, yellow bill used partly for excreting excess salt.

A defining feature of the species is its flight style: stiff, straight wings held out flat as it glides low and fast over wave troughs, alternating with short bursts of shallow, rapid wingbeats, quite different from the more flexible, buoyant flight of true gulls.

Key field marks

• Stocky, gull-like body with stiff, straight-held wings in flight
• Thick, yellowish tube-nosed bill
• Pale grey back and white head in the light morph; uniform grey-brown in the dark morph
• Dark eye patch giving a slightly "beady-eyed" look

Similar species

• Gulls have more flexible, bowed wingbeats and lack the thick tube-nosed bill of the fulmar.
• Shearwaters are typically slimmer-billed and longer-winged, with a more effortless, banking flight low over the water, and lack the fulmar's stocky, thick-necked profile.

Northern Fulmars breed on sea cliffs and rocky ledges across the North Atlantic and North Pacific, including Arctic coastlines, the British Isles, Iceland, and Alaska. Populations have expanded significantly southward in the North Atlantic over the past two centuries.

Outside the breeding season, fulmars range widely over open ocean waters, often far from land, and are frequently seen following fishing vessels in northern seas.

Voice

At breeding cliffs, Northern Fulmars give a range of harsh, guttural cackling and grunting calls, especially during disputes over nest sites.

Feeding

They feed on fish, squid, crustaceans, and offal, often taken from the surface, and are notorious for gathering in large numbers behind fishing boats to scavenge discards.

Nesting and breeding

Pairs nest on narrow cliff ledges, laying a single egg directly on bare rock or a scant scrape. Chicks and adults famously defend the nest by spitting a foul-smelling stomach oil at intruders, a distinctive defense mechanism among tubenose seabirds.