More than two hundred seabirds live on the coasts, some come only for the winter, while others nest permanently. Let's take a closer look at some species of birds that prefer habitats on seashores.
Gull
This bird has a large number of species and subspecies throughout the planet. Let us dwell in detail on those that can be observed on the coast of Southern Russia.
Mediterranean gull.
A white bird with a gray back and wings, and darker patterned underwings. A large, yellow beak, and the same color of paws, also yellow eyes with a red edging. They nest on rocky cliffs, and can even build a nest on a multi-story building. They feed on everything, from rodents to carrion, and are capable of destroying the nests of their relatives.
Herring gull.
It is distinguished by a powerful yellow beak, curved at the base with a red dot. Pinkish-brown paws, white feathers with silver wings. This bird can weigh up to one and a half kilograms, which is quite a lot for a seagull. Just like many other species of gulls, it is omnivorous, can steal fish from fishing nets, eat carrion, and also attacks if a person comes close to the nest.
Black-headed gull.
Another large species of seagull, among seabirds, up to seventy centimeters in size and up to two kilograms in weight. Distinctive feature: completely black head and orange beak with black edging at the base. The back and wings are light gray, the rest of the plumage is white. There is also a white edging around the eyes. Laughing gulls live in large colonies; in case of danger, they line up in a long line in front of a potential enemy and scream shrilly.
Petrel
This bird appears off the coast of the Azov and Black Seas only for the winter. They fly from the shores of the Aegean Sea, Bermuda, North Africa and other places. The upper color is brown with gray sides, the lower part of the tail and paws are also gray. Narrow, long wings with a dark stripe. The bird prefers to stay away from the shore in the open sea.
Albatross
The habitat of these mysterious sea wanderers is the southern hemisphere. But outside of nesting, they can be found in all seas and oceans, except the Arctic Ocean. These are large birds, some individuals are found weighing more than twelve kilograms. The body has thick plumage, a powerful beak, and special protrusions in the mouth that help hold the caught slippery fish. Special floating membranes on the paws are well developed. Flight speed up to eight tens of kilometers per hour. A distinctive feature of albatrosses is their monogamy, as well as their ability to drink sea water.
Cormorant
Amazing birds of the Black Sea, cormorants, owners of a long neck and large wings. The plumage color is black with a metallic tint, the beak is thin and elongated, at the base it looks like a fish hook. Thanks to their beak and nictitating membranes on their eyes, they are professional fishermen and divers. Nests are made on rocks or trees. The diet consists of fish, crayfish, frogs, turtles and sometimes snakes.
Pelican
A white migratory bird with a large orange throat pouch. Some large individuals weigh up to fifteen kilograms. They mainly live in flocks, in which two species, Dalmatian and Pink Pelicans, often mix. They can go without food for about two weeks, if necessary.
Ducks
More than forty-one species of ducks are known in the country, including those that arrive for the winter and those that live here.
Duck dive.
There are several species of ducks, and their distinctive feature is their bright plumage.
Red-nosed Pochard.
These are large birds with a brown head, a bright red beak and paws. They do not dive for food, but simply turn over in the water head down. They feed on small mollusks, crustaceans, insects, and plants.
Sailor.
It differs from other dives by its long tail. Also, it changes its color three times a year. The duck is not very large, weighing up to eight hundred grams, and feeds on crustaceans and insects.
Savka.
This duck has a large head and a blue beak, which is why its second name is blue-nosed. They feed on both animal and plant foods and are excellent divers.
Spotted tern
Another of the coastal seabirds, it is medium in size with a crest on its head and a yellow-black elongated beak. They usually nest in numerous colonies, feed on fish, which they dive from above, and sometimes on mollusks and shrimp.
Swan
It is a fairly large bird, sometimes some individuals exceed thirteen kilograms in weight. All three species of swans existing in Russia have white plumage. The difference between the mute swan is a bare triangle from the eye to the beak and the beak is bright red. They eat plant foods.
Blue-footed booby
This amazing bird simply cannot be confused with any other, thanks to its blue legs. They live only in warm, tropical seas. They feed on fish, for which they dive from rocks into the water, and also snatch fish jumping out of the water. An interesting fact about the gannet is that when a male wants to attract the attention of a female, he performs a funny dance accompanied by whistling.
Phaeton
The bird is about a meter long, half of which is occupied by the tail. They have a long, red beak, which they use to deftly grab fish, jellyfish and other living creatures from the water. They swim well, because their feet are webbed, they can hover in the air when flying, but on land they do not move very deftly.
Magnificent Frigate
These seabirds with the ship's name are a type of pelican. A fairly large bird with a wingspan of 220 cm, a long tail that looks like a large fork and a huge hooked beak. The frigate is capable of flying non-stop for several days in a row and even sleeping in the air. A distinctive feature of males is their bright red color, a large throat pouch that inflates during the mating season.
Dead end
A bright bird up to thirty-five centimeters long, with a round head and a massive, rounded orange beak and orange paws. There is red and gray triangular plumage around the eyes. They feed on fish by diving underwater, while their legs act as a rudder on the surface.
Loon
A waterfowl whose plumage resembles a formal office suit, with a green tint on its throat like a tie. They feed on fish, insects and shellfish.
Some species of seabirds can drink seawater thanks to special glands that remove excess salt. These are the albatross, cormorant, gull, petrel and pelican.
In addition to the birds described above, city birds such as pigeons, crows, sparrows and others are also found on the coasts. When going to the beach promenade in a resort town, take bird food with you. Birds really need this kind of care.
Hatchets and guillemots
The northern seabird is a regular at numerous traditional bird markets. Puffins and guillemots are considered record holders among those that are able to gather in such a densely populated area. Thanks to their short wings, they dive perfectly into the water, providing themselves with food. These representatives can be called the most adapted to sea waters. Their chicks, which do not yet know how to fly, fall from their nests in rocky terrain directly into the waves.
Here they are fed and further grow. Many, of course, die, crashing on the rocky terrain. When cold weather approaches, all the inhabitants of the colonies fly away into the endless expanses of water. Some of the seabirds are migratory. They wait out the cold in warmer regions, then return home. Others are nomadic. Many seabirds fly long distances, sometimes changing latitude, and can only return to their place of birth in a circle. Sometimes the entire life cycle is not enough for such a route.
Population
Coots are numerous. These birds reproduce quickly and easily get used to a new place. The existing species of coots are stable in number and are not subject to extinction.
There are factors in the world that influence population decline:
- reed cutting;
- drainage of reservoirs;
- hunting;
- ecology.
These reasons do not have a particular impact on the number of coots. Today, for many species there is no need to apply conservation measures. But some are under protection. For example, the Hawaiian coot.
Where does it live?
Coots inhabit many areas of the globe. They can be seen:
- on the continent of Eurasia;
- in northern Africa;
- in Australia;
- in New Guinea;
- in America.
The vast area of the bird's range can be explained by the fact that long-distance flights are unacceptable for them. If they choose a place during the flight, they can stay there and do not return to their original place.
Steppe and forest-steppe zones were occupied by coots on Russian territory. Their places of settlement are reed and grass thickets near lakes and in the floodplains of slow-flowing rivers.
Phaetons
Phaeton
is a tropical seabird that breeds in colonies on oceanic islands across the Indian and Pacific oceans. She is also known by the Maori name Amokura. Having small, weak legs, he walks on land with difficulty. Once in the air, however, tropical birds are agile fliers, often hovering before diving into surface waters to capture their prey. They may even swoop down to catch diving fish in the air.
Interesting fact : frigate birds never land on the water; they always catch their catch in flight.
Seagulls
Herring Gull Seagulls
are large white or gray birds. Apart from kittiwak, gulls usually live near the coast or inland, rarely venturing far out to sea. They have a very varied diet, catching crabs and fish in shallow waters, as well as insects, worms, eggs, small mammals, seeds, fruit and human waste.
Seagulls take and steal food from other birds. May loosen their jaws, allowing them to eat larger foods. There are more than 50 species of gulls, including the herring gull and the black-headed gull. Seagulls gather in large colonies for nesting. Often exhibit what is called "mobbing behavior" - attacking potential predators and other attackers.
Fun fact : Seabirds consume large amounts of salt when they drink and feed. To remove excess salt, they have a special gland above their eyes that releases salt water. She runs along their beaks and runs away.
Magnificent Frigate
Frigate Bird
The magnificent frigate bird lives in the waters of Central and South America. It uses thermal currents: warm currents of air to fly to altitudes of up to 2500 meters. This interesting bird of its kind catches fish and squid by descending to the surface of the water. But she also steals from other seabirds by biting their tails, forcing them to release their catch.
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During the mating season, the male's throat sac becomes red and swells. The bigger and redder this “bag”, the more likely he is to attract a partner.
Fun fact : Some cliff-nesting seabirds, such as gilmoths, lay pointed, pear-shaped eggs. They are less likely to roll off the edge of a cliff than if they were rounded.
Penguin
Almost all representatives of the seabird family have plumage colors of black, gray or white. However, there are birds that have brighter and more variegated colors. For example, a penguin is a bird, some species of which have multi-colored plumage in the neck and chest. Color is very important in the wild. Its main function is camouflage, that is, the ability to blend in with the colors of a certain area. This allows not only birds, but all animals to hide from a predator’s attack or not give themselves away while hunting for prey.
Pelicans
Pelican
Pelicans are large seabirds with large pouches on their throats. Their long beaks have a downward curved hook at the end of the upper jaw. It is used to catch large fish, which the pelican then throws into the air so that it slides down its gullet upside down.
The throat pouch is used for catching small fish from the water, as in a fishing net, and not for storing food and for subsequent digestion, as is sometimes believed. Once the pelican has drained the water from its pouch, it swallows its prey whole. All pelicans fish from the surface of the water, with the exception of the brown pelican, which usually dives for prey.
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Fun Fact : The frigate bird, once known as a warbird, is so named because of its habit of piracy—stealing catches from other birds.
Petrels
Northern Giant Petrel
Petrels glide, or shift, the surface of the water in flight. The short-tailed petrel has long and narrow wings for high-speed gliding. Spends his summers on the Australian coast. In April it flies north across the western Pacific Ocean to the Bering Sea. Then returns through the middle of the ocean in September. Flies about 15,000 kilometers in each direction annually.
Classification
There is the following classification of seabirds:
- Petrel-like animals include 93 species, among which a distinction is made between pelagic and oceanic. These include albatrosses, storm petrels, and common and diving petrels.
- Pelican-like - there are 57 species. Among them are cormorants, gannets, phaeton and frigatebirds. These also include representatives of pelicans.
- Penguin-like animals, living in the Southern Hemisphere and Antarctica, number 16 species.
- Charadriiformes have 305 species. Among them are cutwaters, terns, skuas, gulls and auks.
Skuas
Long-tailed skua
Short-tailed Skua
Skua
South polar skua
Antarctic skua
Great Skua
Blue-footed boobies
Blue-footed boobies
Blue-footed boobies are large seabirds. They nest on the steep cliffs of the Galapagos Islands, off the west coast of South America at the equator. These birds dive into the sea high from the air to catch fish. Their conical bodies easily cut through the water as they move beneath the surface of the sea.
Fun fact : Seabirds often live much longer than landbirds, reaching ages of up to 60 years.
Their beaks are long and pointed, with serrated edges for catching fish. Both males and females have bright blue legs. Men show their legs during courtship to help attract a mate.
Types of coot
The rail family includes only eleven subspecies, called coots:
- crested;
- Hawaiian;
- ordinary;
- American;
- gigantic;
- yellow-billed;
- red-faced;
- Andean;
- West Indian;
- horned.
- white-winged.
There was another species called Mascarene coots. They lived on two islands in the Indian Ocean (Mauritius and Reunion). In the 18th century, this species disappeared due to the development and drying of swamps, as well as uncontrolled hunting.
Arctic tern
Arctic Tern
The Arctic Tern spends the summer months in the Arctic raising its young. She then flies to Antarctica, a distance of about 13,000 kilometers, where she spends her second summer fishing off the coast. Then he returns to the north. This bird makes the longest migratory journey of any bird . During its life, it can fly more than 1 million kilometers.
Fun fact : Albatrosses and petrels only come to land when they are breeding. The rest of their lives are spent gliding on air currents.
Description
The penguin is the bird that scientists believe is the most socialized. Their colonies consist of a huge number of individuals. They spend most of their life cycle in water. Penguins come to land only to conceive and raise offspring. The peculiarities of their structure allow these representatives of the bird family to survive in extremely low temperatures. Dense straight plumage creates a powerful barrier to the cold.
Heavy bones and wings that function as fins make penguins fast swimmers capable of diving very deeply. The streamlined shape of the body helps them to excellently cut through the expanses of water, and in case of danger, to deftly escape from a predator. Their feathers do not get wet and effectively retain heat thanks to constant processing with fat secreted by the gland in the tail area. All species except the emperor penguin breed. They settle in the rocks, preparing a place for future offspring from stones and earthy breasts. Those who do not need nests place the eggs under the skin pouch. The chick is also located there for the first time after birth. In a pair, the female and male take turns incubating the egg.
