Ariel Heswall
Seabirds
Air. Water. Land
Seabirds are a diverse group of animals. They range from the enormous albatross to the tiny little storm petrels. They inhabit all oceans of the world from the warm tropical islands, to the cold polar deserts. They are one of the few groups of animals who use both the land, air and sea. They forage out to sea, breed on the land and use the winds for transport.
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Seabirds have many unique abilities. For example, albatrosses can travel over 1000s of km across the oceans. Penguins can dive up to 100s of metres in search of prey items. Some seabird's such as the gannets use the social cues of other animals including cetaceans to locate foraging grounds.
A threatened group
Seabirds are one of the most at risk group of animals from a variety of different threats. These include; habitat destruction, invasive pests, plastic pollution, light pollution and fisheries bycatch. Over 100,000s of seabirds are caught in fishing gear worldwide by longline fisheries. Lights being shone into the night sky leads to disorientation and fatal collisions with anthropogenic structures. Even plastic can build up in the guts or cause punctures or entanglement which leads to serious health risks.
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