Northern Fulmar

Fulmarus glacialis

Least ConcernCommonFishMarineScrapeLarge · 612 g

About the Northern Fulmar

The northern fulmar, Arctic fulmar, or simply fulmar is an abundant seabird found primarily in subarctic regions of the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans. There has been one confirmed sighting in the Southern Hemisphere, with a single bird seen south of New Zealand. Fulmars come in one of two colour morphs; a light one in temperate populations, with white head and body and grey wings and tail, and a dark one in arctic populations, which is uniformly grey; intermediate birds are common. Though similar in appearance to gulls, fulmars are in fact members of the family Procellariidae, which includes petrels and shearwaters.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

ID tip

The northern fulmar has a wingspan of 102 to 112 cm (40–44 in) and is 46 cm (18 in) in length. Body mass can range from 450 to 1,000 g (16 to 35 oz). This species is grey and white with a pale yellow, thick bill and bluish legs. However, there are both a light morph and dark, or "blue", morph; in the Pacific Ocean there is an intermediate morph as well. Only the dark morph has more than dark edges on the underneath but they all have pale inner primaries on the top of the wings. The Pacific morph has a darker tail than the Atlantic morph.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Where it lives

Regular rangeRare visitor

Recorded as a rare visitor in Chile, Thailand.

When to see it

Peak activity in August · a variable species across most of its range

Easily confused with

Learn the Northern Fulmar for real

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