Observations of Foraging Northern Fulmars (<i>Fulmarus Glacialis</i>) in the Canadian High Arctic

Abstract

We summarize observations of foraging northern fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis) in the Barrow Strait-Lancaster Sound region of the Northwest Territories from June to September 1984-90 and in Admiralty Inlet, N.W.T., in July 1989. In each year, fulmars scavenged hunter-killed marine mammal remains in the vicinity of Resolute Bay. Large feeding flocks, aggregated primarily along tide lines and at upwelling sites, exploited primarily calanoid copepods by surface seizing and diving. Late-season onshore movement of Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida) resulted in flocks of several thousand fulmars capturing cod by surface and pursuit diving. We determined experimentally that northern fulmars are capable of diving to 3 m to retrieve cod.

Key words: northern fulmar, Fulrmarus glacialis, feeding behaviour, diving, Barrow Strait, Lancaster Sound