Tower Island
Today we saw a large number of birds. However, the seabirds are the ones which always capture our attention due to their unusual behavior, because there are so many of them and they are so easy to see. I would say there is a lot to learn about this remarkable group of birds. It seems to me that you may best not be too fastidious or narrow-minded in your curiosity as you investigate this subject. Modern day research of seabirds is phenomenal in terms of expanding our knowledge due to the number of people actively participating in different investigations.
Seabird plumage, with very few exceptions, is black, white brown or mixtures of all. However it is very important to mention that seabirds need to combine two different colors around their eyes to avoid poor vision. The predominance of black or brown in the head-plumage of many seabirds creates problems for the bird’s vision. Dark plumage has more melanin, and because of this the absorption of sunlight can be excessive. Due to that fact, they need to combine those colors with another that is light or pale. If the head-plumage is mostly white, we will see that there are patches or stripes of dark colors around their eyes to balance the reflection with the absorption of the light. These adaptations have tremendous value in feeding behaviors, and this picture shows various combinations of some of the Galapagos seabirds.
Today we saw a large number of birds. However, the seabirds are the ones which always capture our attention due to their unusual behavior, because there are so many of them and they are so easy to see. I would say there is a lot to learn about this remarkable group of birds. It seems to me that you may best not be too fastidious or narrow-minded in your curiosity as you investigate this subject. Modern day research of seabirds is phenomenal in terms of expanding our knowledge due to the number of people actively participating in different investigations.
Seabird plumage, with very few exceptions, is black, white brown or mixtures of all. However it is very important to mention that seabirds need to combine two different colors around their eyes to avoid poor vision. The predominance of black or brown in the head-plumage of many seabirds creates problems for the bird’s vision. Dark plumage has more melanin, and because of this the absorption of sunlight can be excessive. Due to that fact, they need to combine those colors with another that is light or pale. If the head-plumage is mostly white, we will see that there are patches or stripes of dark colors around their eyes to balance the reflection with the absorption of the light. These adaptations have tremendous value in feeding behaviors, and this picture shows various combinations of some of the Galapagos seabirds.
