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British Birds - Petrels, Shearwaters and Terns
Do you know what bird this is?

British Birds - Petrels, Shearwaters and Terns

Petrels are tube-nosed seabirds. Shearwaters are extraordinarily long-lived. A bird breeding in Northern Ireland was ringed as an adult (at least 5 years old) in 1953. It was retrapped in 2003, at least 55 years old, the oldest known wild bird in the world. Apart from bathing, terns rarely swim, despite having webbed feet.

1.
What is the name of this bird?
Photograph courtesy of http://photo-natur.de/
Common Tern
Northern Fulmar
Great Shearwater
Sandwich Tern
  • Group: Shearwaters and Petrels
  • Binomial: Fulmarus glacialis
  • Order: Procellariiformes
  • Family: Procellariidae
  • Status: Resident And Migrant Breeder, Passage Migrant
  • This grey and white seabird is related to the albatrosses.
  • They are long-lived.
  • They defend their nests from intruders by spitting out a foul-smelling oil.
2.
What is the name of this bird?
Photograph courtesy of Toivo Toivanen & Tiina Toppila
Great Shearwater
Leach's Storm-petrel
Arctic Tern
Sandwich Tern
  • Group: Terns
  • Binomial: Sterna paradisaea
  • Order: Charadriiformes
  • Family: Sternidae
  • Status: Breeding Summer Visitor
  • The species is strongly migratory, seeing two summers each year as it migrates along a winding route to the oceans around Antarctica and back, a round trip of about 70,900 km (c. 44,300 miles) each year.
3.
What is the name of this bird?
Photograph courtesy of Martin Meyrs
Arctic Tern
Manx Shearwater
Common Tern
Little Tern
  • Group: Shearwaters and Petrels
  • Binomial: Puffinus puffinus
  • Order: Procellariiformes
  • Family: Procellariidae
  • Status: Breeding Summer Visitor
  • This bird looks like a flying cross, with its wing held at right angles to the body, and it changes from black to white as the black upperparts and white undersides are alternately exposed as it travels low over the sea.
4.
What is the name of this bird?
Photograph courtesy of www.flickr.com/photos/jmuchaxo/
Great Shearwater
European Storm-petrel
Balearic Shearwater
Sandwich Tern
  • Group: Shearwaters and Petrels
  • Binomial: Puffinus mauretanicus
  • Order: Procellariiformes
  • Family: Procellariidae
  • Status: Passage Migrant
  • It is silent at sea, but at night the breeding colonies are alive with raucous cackling calls.
  • This species nests in burrows which are visited only at night to avoid predation by large gulls.
5.
What is the name of this bird?
Photograph courtesy of Dan Irizarry
European Storm-petrel
Great Shearwater
Sandwich Tern
Balearic Shearwater
  • Group: Shearwaters and Petrels
  • Binomial: Puffinus gravis
  • Order: Procellariiformes
  • Family: Procellariidae
  • Status: Passage Migrant
  • It is one of only a few bird species to migrate from breeding grounds in the Southern Hemisphere to the Northern Hemisphere, the normal pattern being the other way round.
  • It readily follows fishing boats.
6.
What is the name of this bird?
Photograph courtesy of www.tintazul.com.pt/por/index.html
European Storm-petrel
Little Tern
Balearic Shearwater
Arctic Tern
  • Group: Storm Petrels
  • Binomial: Hydrobates pelagicus
  • Order: Procellariiformes
  • Family: Hydrobatidae
  • Status: Breeding Summer Visitor
  • A small bird, the size of a house martin, which it superficially resembles with its dark plumage and white rump.
  • Only in Atlantic storms might this species be pushed into the headlands of south-western Ireland and England.
7.
What is the name of this bird?
Photograph courtesy of http://birdsofsanibel.free.fr/
Manx Shearwater
Little Tern
Common Tern
Sandwich Tern
  • Group: Terns
  • Binomial: Sterna sandvicensis
  • Order: Charadriiformes
  • Family: Sternidae
  • Status: Breeding Summer Visitor
  • Feeds by plunge diving for fish, usually in marine environments, and the offering of fish by the male to the female is part of the courtship display.
  • It has a population estimated at 460,000-500,000 individuals.
8.
What is the name of this bird?
Photograph courtesy of Joby Joseph
Manx Shearwater
Common Tern
Northern Fulmar
Leach's Storm-petrel
  • Group: Terns
  • Binomial: Sterna hirundo
  • Order: Charadriiformes
  • Family: Sternidae
  • Status: Breeding Summer Visitor
  • These delightful silvery-grey and white birds have long tails which have earned them the nickname 'sea-swallow'.
  • They have a buoyant, graceful flight and frequently hover over water before plunging down for a fish.
9.
What is the name of this bird?
Photograph courtesy of 49828152@N00
Leach's Storm-petrel
Northern Fulmar
Little Tern
Arctic Tern
  • Group: Terns
  • Binomial: Sternula albifrons
  • Order: Charadriiformes
  • Family: Sternidae
  • Status: Breeding Summer Visitor
  • This bird breeds on the coasts and inland waterways of temperate and tropical Europe and Asia.
  • It is strongly migratory, wintering in the subtropical and tropical oceans as far south as South Africa and Australia.
10.
What is the name of this bird?
Photograph courtesy of http://www.fws.gov/
Sandwich Tern
Balearic Shearwater
Leach's Storm-petrel
Little Tern
  • Group: Storm Petrels
  • Binomial: Oceanodroma leucorhea
  • Order: Procellariiformes
  • Family: Hydrobatidae
  • Status: Breeding Summer Visitor
  • It is specially protected by law and it is important that its breeding colonies are protected from introduced predators.
  • Spends most of its time at sea, only approaching land to breed and then only at night.

 

Author:  Sarah Garratty

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