
Photographs from iNaturalist · photographer credits
The northern fulmar has a wingspan of 102 to 112 cm (40–44 in) and is 46 cm (18 in) in length. Body mass can range from 450 to 1,000 g (16 to 35 oz). This species is grey and white with a pale yellow, thick bill and bluish legs. However, there are both a light morph and dark, or "blue", morph; in the Pacific Ocean there is an intermediate morph as well. Only the dark morph has more than dark edges on the underneath but they all have pale inner primaries on the top of the wings. The Pacific morph has a darker tail than the Atlantic morph. Like other petrels, their walking ability is limited, but they are strong fliers, with a stiff wing action quite unlike the gulls. They look bull-necked compared to gulls, and have short stubby bills. They are long-lived, with a lifespan of 31 years not uncommon, and exceptionally over 50 years, recorded on Eynhallow in Orkney.
Adapted from Northern fulmar on Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.