Many of the birds we see and photograph on these trips are among the least familiar to landlubbers. Pelagic birds are those that spend their lives at sea except for nesting: for example, albatross, shearwaters, Northern fulmar, petrels and storm-petrels. They all have tubenoses, which allow secretion of salt extracted from salt water.

In the middle image of the three showing a feeding frenzy [GD06421], there’s an albatross with an extensive white rump, which is an adult or older subadult bird, and another darker brown bird with an all-dark rump, which is a juvenile. Juveniles become subadult at about 9 months.

Click on each image for a larger view plus caption.

Northern fulmar on water Select		Feeding frenzy Select		Feeding frenzy Select
Feeding frenzy Select		Black-footed albatross on water Select		Black-footed albatross on water Select

Our thanks to Greg Gillson at TheBirdGuide.com for technical assistance.