Northern Fulmar

A dark phase Northern Fulmar, Fulmarus glacialis.

Fulmars are so cool! They have naricorns, or as I like to say, tube-noses. The tube is thought to help them funnel air into their nostrils to greatly increase their sense of smell for their food out to sea. They also have a special adaptation to excrete excess salt (from living in a marine environment) from their bodies as a concentrated saline solution.


5" x 7" ink and watercolor on rough.


<sub>Some reading about the plight of Fulmars and our oceans:

Fulmars (and many other sea birds) have a habit of eating most anything they find floating in the ocean, and brightly colored bits of things look deliciously like excitingly colored pieces of fish, squid, jellyfish and other such delights. Sadly, this day and age, most of those bright bits that they find are small bits of plastic. Studies in the Netherlands alone show that over 98% of fulmars have plastic inside their bodies. Over 85% of Fulmars in Canada have plastic in their stomachs. Plastic can cause impaction (leading to starvation and death), and/or is broken down into increasingly small particles which are unfortunately not as inert as we like to think. A final plastic product that we experience is rarely toxic, but once it rolls around in the ocean for a while and is broken down, plastics can contain many toxic additives and the monomers are more easily released. While these birds do eat large pieces of plastic sometimes, far more deadly in the long term is the plastic that is broken down into little bits.
Fulmars are only one animal that is impacted by the plastic slurry. Guess what else likes to eat tiny bits of plastic, especially ones that look like plankton? It's hard to imagine any animal that likes fish. (I like fish.)
More reading: [link] Warning: Opens as .PDF file.</sub>