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Northern Fulmar

Fulmarus glacialis

Least Concern (IUCN Red List)Shearwaters and Petrels
Northern Fulmar, photographed by Barnabas Davoti

Photo: Barnabas Davoti · Pexels · Pexels License (licence)

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Call and song

About the Northern Fulmar

Stocky, medium-sized seabird like a mix between a shearwater and a gull. Variable plumage. Light morph birds are white below and gray above like a gull. Dark morphs are generally sooty-gray overall, darker and browner in the Pacific. All but the darkest birds have a pale patch on the upperwing. Also note thick pale bill with orange tip. Flies with stiff wingbeats, often wheeling and arcing like a shearwater. Can be seen singly or in flocks, often loosely associating with other seabirds when feeding. Breeds on cliffs at high latitudes across the Northern Hemisphere; otherwise found offshore in cold water. Rarely seen from land except at colonies. Atlantic and Pacific populations may be separate species.

Species account: eBird.org, fetched 2025-12-26 · How these pages are made

Where it has been recorded

Recorded in 37 of the 253 countries we have eBird lists for. Each opens that country's checklist.

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