From Opus

Family: Procellariidae

[edit] Description

Petrels, Shearwaters, and allies. All procellariiformes (Fulmars, Petrels, Albatrosses, Shearwaters etc) have these external nostrils/'tubenose' which enables them to excrete salt from their food intake and allows them to have a very keen sense of smell (cf. to other species of birds) necessary for hunting fish at sea. Since they spend all their time out of the breeding season at sea and travel vast distances, it's also thought they convert much of their food intake in the stomach to oil (for example 'Fulmar Oil') to conserve/carry energy which is obviously easier to carry than bulky food stuff when flying long distances - The stomach oil is also used to used to feed chicks (being rich in nutrients). It's also used as a defense mechanism (sort of like vomiting you get in some species, or ink ejection from squid etc) especially by Fulmar chicks who squirt it out from the nostril or throat (with some venom!) at potential predators. The oil is also thought to be an additional preening oil to supplement that from the preen glands.

[edit] Taxonomy

Procellariidae is a family in the order Procellariiformes.

[edit] References

The description piece was written by deborah4 and included in this thread