A multitude of Maalies
The Maalie (Fulmar) belongs to a world-wide order of birds, the Procelariiformes ("tubenoses") that includes also the albatrosses, shearwaters and petrels. They are characterised by their oceanic life and anatomically by a tubular structure on top of the bill. The structure is thought to be involved with the excretion of surplus salt in the diet.Once quite a rare bird in Britain, the last century has seen a population explosion which is thought to be associates with the discarding of offal (fish guts) at sea from fishing boats. With changing fishing practices, there is evidence that the species has reached its peak and may be in decline.
In Shetland, the Fulmar (Maalie is the local Shetland name) is one of the most familiar seabirds and nests almost anywhere around the coast where it can launch into empty space. As a seabird, they are rather clumsy on land, but are masters of flight in the air. Here are some snaps I took of Maalies on the nest and in the air whilst in Shetland. Enjoy.
Sky Watch Friday
Maalie selects images from his albums of travel pictures for Skywatch
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posted by Maalie at 1:40 pm
29 Comments:
Those shots are impressive. I saved one young bird like this when I was in UK.
Excellent shots! Real good close-ups.
Wonderful shots!!
Please stop by My Skywatch
Fantastic actions shots. Beautiful!
Beautiful shots of the Fulmar and thanks for sharing their history too-have a great weekend:)
Jim: Very nice birds in flight in the blue sky.
Yess, this is it, some action pictures of birds flying the sky, Realy nice post!!!!
Have a nice SWF
Greatings from NL
What an amazing shot.. Maalie you really have a good shots. so cute...
cheers:)
sabi
Absolutely wonderful skies
Happy skywatching
Very cool captures...
That bird in the second photo looks so curious as to what you are doing :-)
Wonderful bird shots. I would have had a hard time doing that, but yours are great.
Dramatic shots! And the shape of that bird's beak is quite intriguing!
hey mate- did you take the photos whilst perched on the side of the cliff? From memory its a long way down
Lovely closeups of the birds and what a beautiful blue sky background.
Wow, what a fascinating post. Thank you for sharing these excellent pictures.
They do look like graceful birds in the air. Sorry to hear of their decline, though I suppose they are still doing well.
Great series! :)
The first picture here is fantastic!
Very nice photos from Shetland in the posts under here as well.
We live on the West coast of Norway.
My husband once travelled with a 27 foot leisure boat from Norway to Shetland.
A beutiful place, he says.
I hope to visit Shetland some day also.
Happy weekend! :)
I think you must have been on a hang-glider to take some of those shots! They are very impressive.
I know maalies are your favourite bird and they are lovely, but robins are prettier!
I love these shots of the fulmar. Such elegance and power.
There's a great poem that I learned by heart when I was a kid, in fact I can still quote it all the way through.... "Seagulls" by E.J.Pratt, a Canadian poet. Yes, I know that fulmars aren't really seagulls, but it's a wonderful description of a seabird in flight.
Your skiea sre beautiful, but your birds are definitely better!
Wonderful bird & story--recently had the pleasure to be downeast in the states and visit a restored Atlantic puffin area. Good to know we can save a few pieces of the world.
they are sweet looking...your up close and personal shots...simply perfect ^..^
Very impressive pictures. I would love to get close enough to some Fulmars to get such great shots!
You have managed to capture some wonderful shots, Jim. I know some regard gulls as thieving pests (and they have been known to swoop on me and mine from time to time), but I am with you, they are magnificent birds, aren't they?
Great photos!
You should take a peek at another meme/site: Bird Photography Weekly (http://birdfreak.com/category/bird-photography-weekly/) - your bird photos would be a nice addition.
oh its really lovely bird. nice shot.
john
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So now we know what you was in your former life...
I knew you'd keep this one up a long time!
There were loads of these whizzing around and nesting on the cliffs at Porthtowan on a recent w/e break.
I thought of you and your 'nom de plume' at the time. Lovely to see them and these pics are excellent.
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