Black-footed Albatross
September 2013 – Off the Oregon Coast
These birds breed in the northwest Hawaiian islands, but roam the Pacific the rest of the year… sometimes floating on air currents without even flapping their wings for days at a time.
Black-footed Albatross
This photo was during a bit of a feeding frenzy, with a Pink-footed Shearwater to the left, and a California Gull above.
Pink-footed Shearwater
September 2013 – Off the Oregon Coast
To the untrained eye, many of these birds look similar… Actually, even to the trained eye, they look similar. But, it’s the small variations that matter. This bird has a light underside, and lighter bill with a black tip. It also has pink feet, but you’ll rarely see them.
Sooty Shearwater
September 2013 – Off the Oregon Coast
If you want to see birds like these, you have to get out to sea… or to some very remote islands. A number of such seabirds only come to land briefly when it’s time to breed – on some remote Pacific island.
Northern Fulmar
July 2006 – Asbyrgi, Iceland
Hundreds, or perhaps thousands of these birds were nesting on the cliffs at the bottom of the “horseshoe canyon” at Asbyrgi. This is about 10 miles or so from the open water – though, that water is a sort of bay… it would be another 30 miles or so to true open water. Legend says that this canyon was formed when Odin’s horse touched the earth…