Seabirds have something in common with humans: homeliness and intolerance of privacy invasions. And they do not stop there – they are devoted parents, and at the same time, people can be taught something about faith in the bonds of marriage.

Each year, paired seabirds return separately from the distant waters of the Atlantic, become one again and raise subsequent generations in exactly the same nest that they had before migrating.

Bonaventure Island off Quebec, studied by Canadian Cégep de Rimouski scientists, offers remarkable information about northern seabirds as they are easy to find in large numbers, seem oblivious to humans and, unlike most seabirds, can be observed and tagged.

Scientists are closely monitoring their efforts to feed and raise the young in warm climates.

Here are a few lessons their colonies teach us about their lives.

life companions

Northern seabirds are better at monogamy than humans, despite living half a year apart…or maybe because of it. According to scientists involved in this species, 69% remain faithful, 22% get divorced, and 9% become widows.

However, this is due to the safety of the nest, and not love, scientists say, although no one knows what is going on in their … hearts.

“First of all, seabirds remain loyal to their colony, which explains their loyalty to their partner,” experts say, which also makes their intolerance of “invaders” even from the very next nest understandable. When it actually happens, things… go wild: they bite, squeal, and sometimes fight to the death.

Seabirds as parents

Parents alternately go to the sea for fish to feed themselves and younger family members. They are so well fed that the chicks outgrow their parents when it’s time to migrate south. They lose all the “extra” pounds, as over time they learn to dive into the sea and fly like adults.

However, a chick that leaves the nest is not only endangered by large seabirds, which may attack it as intruders, but also by its own parents, who may not recognize them when they return.

“When they are a few weeks old, if they are attacked by large seabirds, it is fatal to them – whether they are attacked by their parents or others. As they mature, young seabirds acquire stronger necks, which allows them to withstand attacks, ”the experts say.

Their way of speaking

Their squeals can make a terrible noise, but their communication is mostly physical. A lone seabird in its nest shakes its head back and forth, then hides it under its wings, as if testing its body odor. What does it mean; Don’t get too close or…

A hungry seabird informs its mate that it is leaving the nest in search of food by pointing its beak upwards. When he returns to the nest, his partner greets him with strikes that sound like swords in swordfight.

When chicks peck at their parents’ beaks, it means they are asking for food, which is most often food that the parent has already…digested.

With information and photos from The Associated Press