Natural History Wanderings

BBC Nature reported on new discoveries about the lives of seabirds. Here are some of the findings:

• Seabird colonies have a significant impact on the environment. Seabirds produce 2% of all the ammonia in the world. Penguins lead the way producing 25 % of the ammonia produced by seabirds.
• There are far more seabirds alive today than previously thought.  There are 261 million breeding pairs of seabirds  and 1.18 billion total seabirds in the world. Earlier estimates of that there were only 700 million seabirds.
• Storm petrel seabirds are smell their relatives. This is the first time research has shown that birds are able to sniff out a mate.  Researchers believe this helps prevent inbreeding.
• Gyrfalcons living in the high Arctic overwinter out at sea. They spending long periods living and hunting on pack ice. This is the first time a falcon species has been found  living at sea.

Read more at: BBC Nature – The secret life of seabirds.