This is meant mainly for Richard Rowlett but also anyone else with
knowledge on the subject: what is the main foraging strategy of N. Fulmar
(and other tubenoses)? Is their main prey surfacing nocturnal animals such
as squid? If so, do they have to have relatively flat seas in order to
feed successfully? The forwarded note from Gary Kaiser saying that the
wrecked specimens he had seen were emaciated lends credence to the
starvation/weather theory being the major cause of the fulmar deaths i.e.
storm force winds produced seas "lumpy" enough to prevent feeding ->
starving birds then either fell to the sea nearshore and were swept
onshore by wave action or were "wrecked" onshore and succumbed to either
wind/weather damage or "exposure" on land.

Another subject - heard interview with Gary Kaiser on CBC radio this
morning. Apparently rats have finally been eliminated from Langara I. off
the NW tip of the Queen Charlotte Is. Puffins were seen there this summer
for the first time in years. Perhaps there is hope yet that the rat
problem on islands can be overcome.

- Jack

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jcbowling at mindlink.bc.ca
Jack Bowling
Prince George, BC
Canada