Return of Bird of the Week: Southern Giant Petrel
A warning: this one is a little gruesome, and there are photos that some may find offensive. You’ve been warned. This is Southern Giant Petrel, by any measure a big bird. More than three feet long and with a wingspan of nearly seven feet, this 11 pound bird is another top-tier predator in the Southern Ocean. Note the naricorns, the tube-like structure on top of the bill. It’s part of the mechanism these birds use to expel excess salt. They don’t need fresh water; they can live on salt water. The bird’s suspicious stare is for a Brown Skua considering raiding…
Bird of the Week – Southern Giant Petrel
We’re still in the far south of the planet. This is a Southern Giant Petrel, a big, bad bird. Both a predator and a scavenger, it’s near the apex of the food chain in the South Atlantic Ocean. This is a “tube nose,” a bird adapted to living its life on salt water, coming ashore only to breed. The structure on top of her bill helps her to excrete salt in the water she drinks. She’s on eggs, and not especially happy about the big guy in the red coat. How big? A big female might weigh 18 pounds and have…