Bird of the Week 4/20 - 4/24

This week’s bird is the: Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel

1. All petrels belong to the order Procellariiformes, collectively referred to as “tubenoses.” You can guess where this name comes from – they have little tubes on their bills!

2. These tube structures give these birds a ridiculously good sense of smell. They can smell the odor from oils and other substances excreted from marine life. They can even smell plankton! This ability allows them to find local concentrations of food in a very expansive ocean environment.

3. Tubenoses also drink seawater. They have to, because they spend virtually all of their life at sea (except when breeding). To process seawater, these birds basically act as mini desalination plants, using specialized structures near their eyes that allow them to concentrate and excrete salt, retaining that nice desalinated water.

4. Petrels usually migrate quite far from their breeding grounds on remote islands to deeper oceans during the rest of the year. The Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel is an exception, mostly sticking nearby its breeding sites. Some populations in California are even considered resident.

5. These birds are very abundant around the Gulf of Alaska. Recent population estimates put the total number around 3-5 million.

Have a great week!