Copeland Island Visited Final Part (6)

This is the final day from Lighthouse Island at Copeland Islands and all the photographed are from Stefan Greif.  All have been edited in some way by myself and Stefan has given me permission to do so.  I would like to thanks him for so generosity letting me use and edit them and to share them with all bloggers.

Today our final 3 birds, all Auks, are 

Black Guillemots, Razorbills and my favorite, Puffins.

Black Guillemots

Since I started blogging three and a half months ago I have shown you many Black Guillemots in my posts as they come to my town in County Down to breed. 

You will see in stills and video (at end of post) that they have red feet and inside their mouth is also bright red.

In courtship display, male stands upright, points bill down, and walks around female with exaggerated steps. Shows various lunges, turns of the head, and other posturing in territorial interaction with other Black Guillemots.  Dives under water to capture prey, using its wings to swim. Small prey swallowed under water; larger items brought to surface.   It can carries fish crosswise in its bill with some birds being right- and some birds being left-handed in the way the fish point.   They can stay underwater for up to 2 minutes and 20 seconds.

 

Razorbill

The Razorbills chooses one partner for life, lays 1 egg and nests along coastal waters of the continental shelf. It nests in open or hidden crevices among cliffs and boulders. It is a colonial breeder and only comes to land to breed. The annual survival rate of the Razorbill is 90%. Though the Razorbills average lifespan is roughly 13 years, a bird ringed in the UK in 1967 has survived for at least 41 years — a record for the species.

Individuals only breed at 4–5 years of age. As pairs grow older they will occasionally skip a year of breeding. A mating pair will court several times during breeding periods to strengthen their bond. 

The pair will mate up to 80 times in a 30 day period to ensure fertilisation.   Females will sometimes encourage other males to engage in copulation to guarantee successful fecundity.

  

Puffin

Puffins have predominantly black and white plumage, a stocky build, and large beaks. They shed the colourful outer parts of their bills after the breeding season, leaving a smaller and duller beak. Their short wings are adapted for swimming with a flying technique under water. In the air, they beat their wings rapidly (up to 400 times per minute) in swift flight, often flying low over the ocean's surface.

  

 Although the puffins are vocal at their breeding colonies, they are silent at sea. They fly relatively high above the water, typically 10 m (30 ft) as compared with the 1.6 m (5 ft) of other auks.

The nest in 40” long burrows and form long-term pair bonds or relationships. The female lays a single egg, and both parents incubate the egg and feed the chick or "puffling.   The incubating parent holds the egg against its brood patch with its wings. Unlike other Auks that usually bring in single fish, they go in for ‘bulk buying’!  Normally they carry 5-10 sand eels in their beak, however the record is an amazing 62 fish at one time.  Puffins are generous to their chicks and give them up to 21/2 ounces of fish a day, compared to Guillemots who give 1 ounce and Razorbills 3/4 ounce.  The chicks fledge at night.  After fledging, the chicks spend the first few years of their lives at sea, returning to breed about five years later. 

  

  

This is a video of the Puffins and you can either access it on youtube  at 
http://youtu.be/QJ-rqzU_JQY

Or hopefully you will be able to see the video on my blog.


And finally, I made this short video as my final farewell to Copeland.  I hope you have enjoyed coming with me to this beautiful island and seeing birds, some at close quarters that you may not have the priveledge to do so where you live.    http://youtu.be/cVXs_7EE5M0




Very many thank for all of you who have followed these 6 posts of my time on Lighthouse Island and in particular for those who have sent comments to Stefan and myself.

Have a great day.

You can find more bird posts at Wild Bird Wednesday, WBW at

 http://paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.com.au