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Baccalieu Island Ecological Reserve
Baccalieu Island Ecological Reserve is a wildlife nature preserve, reserve located on an island off the northeastern tip of Bay de Verde Peninsula (part of the Avalon Peninsula) of Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland. Baccalieu Island is the largest seabird island in Newfoundland and supports the greatest diversity of breeding seabirds in Eastern North America. The island supports the largest known colony of Leach's storm petrel in the world, approximately 40% of the global population and about 70% of the western Atlantic population of this species. It is a nesting area for 11 breeding species: * Atlantic puffin (45,000 pairs - approximately 12% of the eastern North America population) at Puffin Island; * Black-legged kittiwake (13,000 - approximately 5 to 7% of the western Atlantic breeding population); and * Northern gannet (677 pairs - approximately 1.5% of the North American population). * Northern fulmar * Black guillemot * Common murre * Thick-billed murre * Razorbill * Ameri ...
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Wildlife
Wildlife refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous to game: those birds and mammals that were hunted for sport. Wildlife can be found in all ecosystems. Deserts, plains, grasslands, woodlands, forests, and other areas, including the most developed urban areas, all have distinct forms of wildlife. While the term in popular culture usually refers to animals that are untouched by human factors, most scientists agree that much wildlife is affected by human activities. Some wildlife threaten human safety, health, property, and quality of life. However, many wild animals, even the dangerous ones, have value to human beings. This value might be economic, educational, or emotional in nature. Humans have historically tended to separate civilization from wildlife in a number of ways, including the legal, social, and moral senses. Some animals, h ...
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Northern Fulmar
The northern fulmar (''Fulmarus glacialis''), fulmar, or Arctic fulmar is a highly 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 color morphs: a light one, with white head and body and gray wings and tail, and a dark one, which is uniformly gray. Though similar in appearance to gulls, fulmars are in fact members of the family Procellariidae, which include petrels and shearwaters. The northern fulmar and its sister species, the southern fulmar (), are the extant members of the genus . The fulmars are in turn a member of the order Procellariiformes, and they all share certain identifying features. First, they have nasal passages that attach to the upper bill called naricorns; however, nostrils on albatrosses are on the sides of the bill, as opposed to the rest of the order, including f ...
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Great Black-backed Gull
The great black-backed gull (''Larus marinus'') is the largest member of the gull family. Described by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as "the king of the Atlantic waterfront", it is a very aggressive hunter, pirate, and scavenger. It breeds on the European and North American coasts and islands of the North Atlantic and is fairly sedentary, though some move farther south or inland to large lakes or reservoirs. The adult great black-backed gull has a white head, neck and underparts, dark grey wings and back, pink legs and yellow bill. Taxonomy The great black-backed gull was one of the many species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', and it still bears its original name of ''Larus marinus''. The scientific name is from Latin. ''Larus'' appears to have referred to a gull or other large seabird. The specific name ''marinus'' means "marine", or when taken together, "sea gull". This predates Linnean taxonomy, as it had been called ''L ...
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American Herring Gull
The American herring gull or Smithsonian gull (''Larus smithsonianus'' or ''Larus argentatus smithsonianus'') is a large gull that breeds in North America, where it is treated by the American Ornithological Society as a subspecies of herring gull (''L. argentatus''). Adults are white with gray back and wings, black wingtips with white spots, and pink legs. Immature birds are gray-brown and are darker and more uniform than European herring gulls, with a darker tail. As is common with other gulls, they are colloquially referred to simply as seagulls. It occurs in a variety of habitats including coasts, lakes, rivers, parking lots and garbage dumps. Its broad diet includes invertebrates, fish, and many other items. It usually nests near water, laying around three eggs in a scrape on the ground. Taxonomy This gull was first described as a new species in 1862 by Elliott Coues based on a series of specimens from the Smithsonian Institution. It was later reclassified as a subspeci ...
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Razorbill
The razorbill, razor-billed auk, or lesser auk (''Alca torda'') is a colonial seabird and the only extant member of the genus '' Alca'' of the family Alcidae, the auks. It is the closest living relative of the extinct great auk (''Pinguinis impennis''). Wild populations live in the subarctic waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Razorbills are primarily black with a white underside. The male and female are identical in plumage; however, males are generally larger than females. This agile bird, which is capable of both flight and diving, has a predominantly aquatic lifestyle and only comes to land in order to breed. It is monogamous, choosing one partner for life. Females lay one egg per year. Razorbills nest along coastal cliffs in enclosed or slightly exposed crevices. The parents spend equal amounts of time incubating, and once the chick has hatched, they take turns foraging for their young. In 1918, the razorbill was protected in the United States by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act ...
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Thick-billed Murre
The thick-billed murre or Brünnich's guillemot (''Uria lomvia'') is a bird in the auk family (Alcidae). This bird is named after the Danish zoologist Morten Thrane Brünnich. The very deeply black North Pacific subspecies ''Uria lomvia arra'' is also called Pallas' murre after its describer. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''ouria'', a waterbird mentioned by Athenaeus. The species term ''lomvia'' is a Swedish word for an auk or diver. The English "guillemot" is from French ''guillemot'' probably derived from ''Guillaume'', "William". "Murre" is of uncertain origins, but may imitate the call of the common guillemot. Murres have the highest flight cost, for their body size, of any animal. Description Since the extinction of the great auk in the mid-19th century, the murres are the largest living members of the Alcidae.Nettleship (1996) The thick-billed murre and the closely related common guillemot (or common murre, ''U. aalge'') are similarly sized, but the thick-bil ...
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Common Murre
The common murre or common guillemot (''Uria aalge'') is a large auk. It has a circumpolar distribution, occurring in low-Arctic and boreal waters in the North Atlantic and North Pacific. It spends most of its time at sea, only coming to land to breed on rocky cliff shores or islands. Common murres have fast direct flight but are not very agile. They are more maneuverable underwater, typically diving to depths of . Depths of up to have been recorded. Common murres breed in colonies at high densities. Nesting pairs may be in bodily contact with their neighbours. They make no nest; their single egg is incubated on a bare rock ledge on a cliff face. Eggs hatch after ~30 days incubation. The chick is born downy and can regulate its body temperature after 10 days. Some 20 days after hatching the chick leaves its nesting ledge and heads for the sea, unable to fly, but gliding for some distance with fluttering wings, accompanied by its male parent. Male guillemots spend more time div ...
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Black Guillemot
The black guillemot or tystie (''Cepphus grylle'') is a medium-sized seabird of the Alcidae family, native throughout northern Atlantic coasts and eastern North American coasts. It is resident in much of its range, but large populations from the high arctic migrate southwards in winter. The bird can be seen in and around its breeding habitat of rocky shores, cliffs and islands in single or smalls groups of pairs. They feed mainly by diving towards the sea floor feeding on fish, crustaceans or other benthic invertebrates. They are listed on the IUCN red list as a species of least concern. Both sexes have very similar appearances with black plumage and a large white patch on the upper side of their wings in summer. The bill is also black, being rather long and slender, while the feet are coral-red. In winter adult underparts are white and the upperparts are a pale grey with the back and shoulders exhibiting barred light grey and white patterning. The birds breed in solitary pairs ...
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Northern Gannet
The northern gannet (''Morus bassanus'') is a seabird, the largest species of the gannet family, Sulidae. It is native to the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean, breeding in Western Europe and Northeastern North America. It is the largest seabird in the northern Atlantic. The sexes are similar in appearance. The adult northern gannet has a mainly white streamlined body with a long neck, and long and slender wings. It is long with a wingspan. The head and nape have a buff tinge that is more prominent in breeding season, and the wings are edged with dark brown-black feathers. The long, pointed bill is blue-grey, contrasting with black, bare skin around the mouth and eyes. Juveniles are mostly grey-brown, becoming increasingly white in the five years it takes them to reach maturity. Nesting takes place in colonies on both sides of the North Atlantic, the largest of which are at Bass Rock (75,000 pairs as of 2014), St. Kilda (60,000 pairs as of 2013) and Ailsa Craig (33,000 pairs as of ...
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Nature Preserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for purposes of conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research. They may be designated by government institutions in some countries, or by private landowners, such as charities and research institutions. Nature reserves fall into different IUCN categories depending on the level of protection afforded by local laws. Normally it is more strictly protected than a nature park. Various jurisdictions may use other terminology, such as ecological protection area or private protected area in legislation and in official titles of the reserves. History Cultural practices that roughly equate to the establishment and maintenance of reserved areas for animals date b ...
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Black-legged Kittiwake
The black-legged kittiwake (''Rissa tridactyla'') is a seabird species in the gull family Laridae. This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'' as ''Larus tridactylus''. The English name is derived from its call, a shrill 'kittee-wa-aaake, kitte-wa-aaake'. The genus name ''Rissa'' is from the Icelandic name ''rita'' for this bird, and the specific ''tridactyla'' is from Ancient Greek ''tridaktulos'', "three-toed", from ''tri-'', "three-" and ''daktulos'', "toe". In North America, this species is known as the black-legged kittiwake to differentiate it from the red-legged kittiwake, but in Europe, where it is the only member of the genus, it is often known just as kittiwake. Range and distribution The black-legged kittiwake is a coastal bird of the arctic to subarctic regions of the world.del Hoyo, J; Elliott, A; Sargatal, J (1996). ''Handbook of the Birds of the World Vol. 3''. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. pp. 622–6 ...
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Atlantic Puffin
The Atlantic puffin ('), also known as the common puffin, is a species of seabird in the auk family. It is the only puffin native to the Atlantic Ocean; two related species, the tufted puffin and the horned puffin is found in the northeastern Pacific. The Atlantic puffin breeds in Russia, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Greenland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and the Faroe Islands, and as far south as Maine in the west and France in the east. It is most commonly found in the Westman Islands, Iceland. Although it has a large population and a wide range, the species has declined rapidly, at least in parts of its range, resulting in it being rated as vulnerable by the IUCN. On land, it has the typical upright stance of an auk. At sea, it swims on the surface and feeds on small fish and crabs, which it catches by diving underwater, using its wings for propulsion. This puffin has a black crown and back, pale grey cheek patches, and a white body and underparts. Its broad, bold ...
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