Animal Encyclopedia Category: Seabirds

As in all seabirds, Laysan albatrosses nest on land. Essentially all individuals of this species nest in large colonies of thousands of breeding pairs in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, though previously unknown colonies have recently been observed on small islands off the coasts of Mexico and Japan. These birds form strong pair bonds and generally mate for … Read more

Like all terns, the Arctic tern gets most of its food from marine sources. They primarily eat small, schooling fishes and pelagic invertebrates, but they are known to take some terrestrial invertebrates and even berries near their nesting sites, when breeding. Arctic terns are divers and feed by plunging into surface waters at high speeds and chasing … Read more

Like all boobies, the red-footed booby gets all of its food from marine sources. This species’ preferred prey includes flyingfishes and squids. These prey species thrive in the open ocean and therefore red-footed boobies spend much of their time at sea. Red-footed boobies feed by diving into surface waters at high speeds and chasing their prey underwater. Flyingfishes are also sometimes … Read more

Emperor penguins spend all year in Antarctica, while king penguins live in sub-antarctic island groups and in southern South America. The king penguin is the largest penguin outside of Antarctica. King penguins are foraging predators that feed primarily on fishes (but occasionally take squids) in shallow water near their nesting sites. Many predatory seabirds are known to … Read more

This species is able to survive so close to the equator because of the biogeography of the western coast of South America. Cold, productive water travels from Antarctica via the Humboldt Current (named for the same explorer), which flows along this species’ entire distribution. The Humboldt penguin is closely related to the other temperate penguins and more … Read more

This species is able to survive at the equator because of the unique biogeography of the Galapagos Islands. Cold, productive water travels from Antarctica via the Humboldt Current, which flows to this island group. Like many animals near the equator, Galapagos penguins breed year round. Unlike the Antarctic penguins, Galapagos penguins do not need to worry about … Read more

Emperor penguins are foraging predators that feed on fishes, squids, and sometimes krill in the cold, productive currents around Antarctica. Scientists have demonstrated that these penguins can dive to depths of at least 1700 feet (500 m) in search of food. Though they feed in the open ocean, emperor penguins nest on the ice surface. This penguin is … Read more