Marine Birds
Meet the magnificent marine birds! The most common type is the seagull. You can find them in many places, not just along coastlines and shores. They have adapted comfortably in cities as well! Rarer species include the Arctic Terns and the Shearwaters. Arctic terns inhabit the Arctic and Antarctic coasts, hence their name 'Arctic tern'. Shearwaters spend their lives out on the unfrozen oceans around the world. They rarely appear in tropical areas. Other species of marine birds include fulmars, gannets, frigatebirds, puffins, pelicans, boobies, auks and tropicbirds.
Auk
Did you know that today there are twenty four species of auk but there used to be twenty five? The twenty fifth one, now extinct, was a flightless bird called the Great Auk. Auks look quite alike to penguins: black heads, tails, wings and backs with white bellies and chests, but auks can fly unlike penguins. Species of Auk include Murres, Guillemots, Puffins, Auklets, Razorbills and Little Auks.
Gannets
Gannets are large white birds with yellowish heads, black tipped wings and pointed bills. They are known for their dramatic diving while hunting for fish. Gannets flap before gliding close to the water's surface, journeying in small groups. To hunt for food, gannets soar high, surveying the water below for silvery flashes of fish. They then plummet headfirst into the sea to catch their victims.
Puffins
Puffins are small fish eating birds. They breed in large colonies on off-shore islands and coasts. In addition, did you know puffins can dive approximately sixty meters below the surface of the water? Puffins may need to flap their short wings four hundred times per minute just to stay airborne, but hummingbirds flap their miniscule wings one thousand, two hundred and sixty times a minute!