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article seabirds gannets kittiwakes guillemots wildlife nature article photography bempton cliffs
Bempton cliffs- photo by Amy
Would you buy a house that had a 400ft drop and barely enough room to sit down in it? No. But seabirds like Guillemots, Gannets, Razorbills , and Kittiwakes build their nests in the most precarious places you could imagine, some not even bothering to build a nest and literally laying their eggs on bare rock. It seems to be the worst place to raise a family in the world unless you look a little closer, and find out how they do it.
Safety in numbers
Living so high off the ground, keeps you safe from ground predators, like foxes. Another advantage is that seabirds live in large colonies, which helps them guard themselves and their chicks and eggs from predators like Herring Gulls, and Black-Backed Gulls. Colonies of Guillemots – Britain’s most common auk, will make a stand and point their sharp beaks out to deter attacking gulls.
Tucked away
Puffins take another approach to nesting. They nest in underground burrows, often old ones excavated by rabbits. This is another way to help protect themselves and their young from the gulls, but it does not always work. Black-backed gulls will wait outside active burrows, and if the puffin decides to leave the burrow at the wrong moment, it will become the gull’s meal. But don’t dislike the gulls, they have chicks to feed too.
On the edge
Many seabirds lay their eggs on a small amount of seaweed or other vegetation collected by the adults, or sometimes nothing but bare rock, on the very edges of cliff walls. But how do their eggs stay in one place? A breeze or an accidental knock by one or the adults could send it rolling over the edge. Here’s how: seabirds have evolved to have conical shaped eggs- which means they simply roll in a small circle and then stop. They will not roll straight over the edge.
Taking the jump
As if life is not hard enough for young seabirds, when they reach a certain age they must fledge. This means making the terrifying fall from the cliff and into the water. There is no safe way to do this, it is just something they have to do. At the age of about three weeks, guillemot chicks prepare to fledge. At this time, they are often called jumplings. Because that is precisely what they do. With encouragement and nudging from their parents, they leap off the edge, sometimes bouncing off protruding rocks on the way down. Some survive this fall, and some don’t. But they either have to face the fall or become easy prey for gulls. It’s a hard life being a young seabird.
Photos and words by Amy (nature__lover)
