92. Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis)

I have now reached the shearwaters and petrels which I am quite looking forward to drawing, especially all the different petrels which I don't know much about. Today is a much more familiar species, the Fulmar. It comes in two colour morphs but there is a bit of a continuum between them, the birds we get here in the UK are at the paler end (seen in the photo below), and further north darker ('blue') Fulmars are found. Fulmars breed in loose colonies on sea cliffs around the coast of western Europe, and spend the winter on the sea. They are easily recognised in flight by their relatively short, stiff wings which they glide on, often close over the waves. I like Fulmars as they remind me of mini albatrosses, and I like their 'stern' expressions.

Fulmar, ©Ian A Kirk, via Flickr Creative Commons.

Fulmar sketch.

Still struggling with proportions for birds in flight - length of wings etc, I think they are a bit short. I ran out of time to finish both wings - when I showed it to Chris he said for this reason I could not get ful-marks. GROAN.