Northern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis)
Illustration redrawn by AI from a real photograph

Northern Fulmar

Fulmarus glacialis (Linnaeus, 1761)

46 cmLength107 cmWingspan612 gWeight

It has a short, stout bill, a thick neck and wings that look very stiff in flapping flight.

Busiest months: June and November · Most records: United States, United Kingdom, Iceland

Least Concern

How to identify

Field marks

  1. Bill pale yellow, short and stout
  2. Nostrils on top of upper mandible
  3. Pale morph with white head and body, gray wings and tail
  4. Dark morph gray overall

Voice

Gives purring and clucking sounds while feeding, and guttural calls in the breeding season.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: June and November · Most records: United States, United Kingdom, Iceland

Northern Fulmar has been recorded at 275 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 24 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

  1. Pt. Pinos – seawatch onlyUnited States8,999 records
  2. St. Paul IslandUnited States5,045 records
  3. Southeast Farallon IslandUnited States3,497 records
More places
  1. GambellUnited States3,383 records
  2. Húsavík – hafnarsvæðiIceland3,363 records
  3. Bempton Cliffs RSPB ReserveUnited Kingdom3,158 records
  4. North ForelandUnited Kingdom2,202 records
  5. Whitburn Coastal ParkUnited Kingdom1,689 records
  6. Portland BillUnited Kingdom1,151 records
  7. Fair IsleUnited Kingdom1,021 records

Countries and regions with the most records

United StatesUnited KingdomIcelandIrelandIsle of ManSvalbard & Jan MayenNorwayFaroe Islands

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The northern fulmar, Arctic fulmar, or simply fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) is an abundant seabird found primarily in subarctic regions of the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans. There has been one confirmed sighting in the Southern Hemisphere, with a single bird seen south of New Zealand. Fulmars come in one of two colour morphs; a light one in temperate populations, with white head and body and grey wings and tail, and a dark one in arctic populations, which is uniformly grey; intermediate birds are common.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions

How big is the Northern Fulmar?

The Northern Fulmar is about 46 cm long, with a wingspan of 107 cm and weighs around 612 g.

Where does the Northern Fulmar live?

Its breeding range: North America, Palearctic: islands and coasts of North Atlantic, bays between Arctic and North Atlantic, and North Pacific including Sea of Okhotsk and Bering Sea. It is most often recorded in United States, United Kingdom and Iceland.

When is the best time to see the Northern Fulmar?

At the hotspots we track, it is recorded most in June and November (Northern Hemisphere).

Is the Northern Fulmar endangered?

The IUCN Red List classifies the Northern Fulmar as Least Concern.

What does the Northern Fulmar eat?

Main food: Fish, shrimp & shellfish.

What family is the Northern Fulmar in?

It belongs to the family Petrels, Shearwaters, Diving Petrels (Procellariidae), order Procellariiformes.

At a glance

Length
46 cm
Wingspan
107 cm
Weight
612 g
Habitat
Ocean
Diet
Fish, shrimp & shellfish
Lifestyle
On the water surface
Migration
Migratory
Conservation
Least Concern
More measurements
Wing
321 mm
Tail
135 mm
Bill
41 mm
Tarsus
49 mm

Averages from the AVONET dataset; length from field guides where available.

Range

North America, Palearctic: islands and coasts of North Atlantic, bays between Arctic and North Atlantic, and North Pacific including Sea of Okhotsk and Bering Sea

Breeding range, IOC World Bird List 15.2

Classification

Genus
Fulmarus

Other birds in the genus Fulmarus

Southern FulmarSouthern FulmarFulmarus glacialoidesSouthern Giant PetrelSouthern Giant PetrelMacronectes giganteusNorthern Giant PetrelNorthern Giant PetrelMacronectes halliAntarctic PetrelAntarctic PetrelThalassoica antarcticaPintado PetrelPintado PetrelDaption capenseSnow PetrelSnow PetrelPagodroma niveaBlue PetrelBlue PetrelHalobaena caeruleaBroad-billed PrionBroad-billed PrionPachyptila vittataSalvin's PrionSalvin's PrionPachyptila salviniMacGillivray's PrionMacGillivray's PrionPachyptila macgillivrayi
Northern Fulmar

Download illustration

Free to use with credit: “Illustration: Bird Album (birdalbum.com)”. Drawn by AI from a reference photo by Andrew P. Aldrich. ↗

WebP · 1070 px

Heard it but can't see it? Mingji identifies birds by sound and photo, on your phone.

In other languages