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Nunavut's projectile pukers

Meet the fulmar, a bird with the most offensive defence

JOHN THOMPSON

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Kieran O'Donovan with the Canadian Wildlife Service rappels down the cliffs of Cape Vera on Devon Island on ropes to an area where she can capture fulmars to attach satellite transmitters that will track the migration of the birds. (PHOTOS BY MARK MALLORY/CWS)

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Pity the poor research students asked by Mark Mallory to clamber over the edge of a treacherous cliff to collect the eggs of northern fulmars.

Inevitably, the young researchers return with helmets and windbreakers covered with oily splotches that span the rainbow. That's because the birds that inhabit the cliffs have one special defence mechanism: projectile vomiting.

"It can be bright orange to dark purple to green," Mallory said. He's studied the bird closely for three years, and he says that's one of many reasons he's fascinated by them.

Fulmars separate oil from the squid, fish and crill they devour and store it in a muscular throat pouch. That oil is energy-rich food that can serve as a back-up fuel tank for themselves, nutrition for their young, or a means of scaring off predators like ravens, glaucous gulls and foxes after their eggs - and even the odd biologist.

The vomit attack can be lethal for predatory birds, because the oily substance coats their feathers and makes flying difficult. Researchers have found the bodies of 10 different kinds of birds covered in the oily mess. Other fulmars seem to be the only birds able to clean the oil from themselves.

The birds can aim accurately up to two or three metres, Mallory said, speaking from his experience of being a target.

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Karen Truman with the Canadian Wildlife Service records information from transmitters attached to fulmars over the cliff edge this year. Last year one tracked bird flew as far as the coast of Ireland, over 5,000 kilometres from its home colony.

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"The last thing you need when you're climbing down a treacherous cliff is to have someone throw up on you."

Fulmars, known as qaqaluit, span the circumpolar world. Outside Canada, they're found in Alaska, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, Norway, Iceland and Russia. Virtually all fulmars that nest in Canada do so in Nunavut.

Mallory estimates there are 200,000 pairs in the territory, spread across 10 different colonies. Two sites in particular have been actively monitored by the Canadian Wildlife Service for the past few years: Cape Vera on the northern end of Devon Island, and Prince Leopold Island in the middle of Lancaster Sound.

The birds are also found in large numbers at Cape Searle, near Qikiqtarjuaq on the east coast of Baffin Island.

Determining their numbers proves difficult, because the fulmar's drab markings, ranging from dark grey to off-white, blend in effectively with the rocks they inhabit. Crummy weather and thick fog that often hangs over the colonies don't help matters for researchers, Mallory said.

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Cindy Anderson with the Canadian Wildlife Service holds a fulmar while its legs are banded, to help identify the bird in later years. Researchers in the U.K. recorded one fulmar that reached the age of 50, an unusually long life for a bird.

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Their colonies are seldom quiet places, where the din from thousands of squawking seabirds can be heard at all hours. An "oily, fishy, musky" smell hangs over the air.

Fulmars might fight dirty, but they're loyal spouses and dedicated parents. To feed their young, the birds are known to fly as far as the coast of Greenland for food. That means one fulmar might fly as far as 1,000 kilometres, round-trip.

"That's a hell of a long flight," Mallory said.

Fulmars winter in the middle of the North Atlantic, but until recently, their full range hasn't been known. Last year Mallory and his team attached six satellite beacons to fulmars to get a better sense of their migration paths.

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The birds have a special defence against predators, as well as rivals of their own species: projectile vomiting. The bird in the bottom corner just fired a volley at the fulmar flying away.

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One tracked fulmar flew as far as the coast of Ireland, over 5,000 kilometres from its colony. Researchers watched it continue to fly back and forth across the Atlantic, "like a wiper blade," until they eventually lost track of it, as it began to migrate back to Baffin Bay. Two more birds will be tracked this year.

No one knows exactly how old Nunavut's fulmars are, although researchers are sure some have returned to the same nest for over two decades. Some are likely far older. In Britain, one fulmar has been recorded reaching the ripe age of 50.

"Some of the fulmars are older than the researchers studying them, which is really weird, when you think about it."

Fulmar populations likely exploded 200 years ago, growing as the whaling industry did. Besides being adept hunters of sealife, the birds are also voracious scavengers, and were one of the few birds able to track whaling vessels over long distances to feed off the kills.

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Northern fulmars take turns with their mates guarding the single egg a female can lay each season. They've been known to sit on an egg for up to 10 days without a break, even through a snowstorm.

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Old whalers used to make sport of catching fulmars by baiting a hook and line and tossing it into the air, which the bird would snap up. Today, the birds often become snagged on hook-and-line fishing vessels as their lines are dropped into the water.

Contaminants in fulmar eggs have been monitored by the Canadian Wildlife Service every five years since the 1970s. They've watched levels of DDT and PCBs decline over that time, but more recently another set of chemicals have been on the increase: PBDEs, which are used as flame retardants.

Mercury levels have also risen, which affects the nervous system of animals. High levels could make the birds sluggish and behave erratically around their mates and the nest, he said.

Another concern is garbage. In 2003 and 2004, Mallory and fellow researchers examined the stomachs of fulmars, searching for parasites. Instead they found plastic, lots of it. Mallory suspects the birds are eating garbage washed by the gulf stream into the north Atlantic during the winter.

One in five fulmars examined by Mallory and fellow researchers had plastic in its stomach. "This was a complete surprise," he said. One stomach held bottle cap liners, bits from a plastic coffee cup lid, a band-aid and other odd bits of plastic.

"They eat so much plastic they choke themselves."

Fulmars are useful to study because they're considered a good indication of the health of the larger food chain, Mallory said. He's also curious to see how they weather changes such as freak storms brought about by global warming.

Mating season begins in early May. One day their colonies will be virtually abandoned, and the next, thousands will converge at once, calling for their mates and nuzzling beaks when they're found. Like most seabirds, fulmars are monogamous until one partner dies.

After they mate, the female stores sperm in special glands inside her. Then it's time to head off on their honeymoon. That's what some researchers call the great exodus that occurs, lasting about two weeks. Soon the colonies are empty again.

A week or two later, the male returns first. Not long after, the female arrives, lays her egg almost immediately, then takes off again. She won't be seen for another 10 days or so. Males are stuck with first shift on the egg.

Researchers believe fulmars spend their honeymoon foraging food on the ocean, mustering their strength for the times ahead. It takes a lot of fat and protein for females to lay an egg, Mallory explains, and the males need to fatten up because soon they're on guard duty.

"They lay just one egg. If they blow that, that's it. They've got one shot each year to breed."

They will sit atop the egg for up to 10 days, far longer than most birds, like the black-legged kittiwake, which trades off every few days. Mallory has visited colonies after a snowstorm to find some birds almost completely buried in snow. Yet they remain atop their eggs, their beady eyes and orange beaks just breaking the snow's surface.

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