The Northern Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis is a medium sized brown sea bird. These photos were taken 40 miles out into the Pacific Ocean on a pelagic trip by The Bird Man out of Newport, OR. The bill is characteristic of tubenoses with a tube-like construction. The close-ups show the yellow-white short top tube ending with a black coloration on the beak below it and reddish tip of the bill (9688B, 9983, 9893, 0014). This is the organ that spits out highly salty/smelly water allowing these birds to exist drinking seawater. The foul smell helps in their defense against predators.
The whitish primary feathers help to distinguish the Fulmar in flight (0049, 0149, 0219, 0123).
There is a white variant of the Northern Fulmar which is a very handsome bird (9930, 9788, 9857, 9983, 0014). The frequency of the white variant increases as one goes further north.