Marine Birds

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Marine Birds
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Physical Adaptations for the sea

• Wing Shape
• Long/slim pelagic, months of flying
• Short wings diving
• Feathers
• Water-repellent feathers
• More than land birds
• Webbed feet for swimming after prey
• Thick skull bones and air sacs around necks for
  head first dives
• Salt glands

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Behavioral Adaptations

• Breed later
• Fewer young invest a lot of time into offspring
• Nest in colonies
• Long migrations

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Most Common Marine Birds in Hawaii

• Albatrosses
• 2. Shearwaters and Petrels
• Frigatebirds
• Boobies
• Terns and Noddies

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Albatross

• See well at night, feed on squid
• Distinct courtship
• Once together, together for life separate at
  sea, but return each year
• 2 main types Layson and black-footed
• Largest seabirds in North Pacific
• Leave in June/July return in October

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Shearwater and Petrels

• Long pointed wings
• Slender bodies
• See well at night
• Remain paired for life
• Dig burrows
• Awkward on land, legs so far back they cannot
  walk
• Migrate to C. America to feed

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Frigatebirds

• Large, black, slim wings, with forked tail
• Males have red pouches for mating rituals
• Feed during the day
• Great frigatebirds most common in HI
• Efficient in the air, known to pursue other
  seabirds and rob their food

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Boobies
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• Designed for plunge diving (30 ft above)
• Well adapted for terrestrial and marine life
• Nest any month of the year
• Incubate by wrapping their feet around the egg
  (balls, fish floats)
• Common types Brown, Red footed, Masked

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Terns and Noddies

• Slender, graceful with long pointed wings and
  straight tapered bills
• Swim poorly, feet are too small
• Live aloft, sleeping during flight
• Ceremonial fish flights

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Why are they important?

• IMPORTANT CONSUMER
• over 400,000 tons of fish, squid, crustaceans
  each year!
• Indicators for fish schools and land
• Bird feces (guano) fertilizer

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Threats to Marine Birds

• Bycatch
• 100,000 albatross hooked on long-line fishing a
  year
• Overfishing
• Hunting of birds and eggs
• Introduced species
• Kill nesting birds, destroy habitat
• Biomagnification of toxins and pollutants

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Hawaii Marine Bird Videos

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vC7cMihMeq3Y
• http//www.hawaiianatolls.org/video/nowramp020927.
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