88 | Chapter 5
before laying, and this interval between peak attendance and laying var-
ies surprisingly between species, from a maximum of 2– 3 months in the
Grey- faced Petrel to a minimum of some 10 days in the South Georgia
Diving Petrel.
When numbers peak, mating occurs, leaving the female, duly insem-
inated, free to head to sea to feed up in preparation for laying. In certain
species, for example Manx and Balearic Shearwaters, the male continues
to visit the colony by night, presumably to ‘keep an eye’ on the burrow,
while spending his days at sea. Meanwhile the females are absent from
the colony for around two weeks before returning one night to lay.
This pre- laying absence from the colony or exodus is also known as
the honeymoon period. It is a wonderfully inappropriate name since the
sexes are very possibly apart, and the female, already inseminated, is
carrying the sperm whose exchange is viewed as a key part of a happy
honeymoon. Not surprisingly where the behaviour of the two sexes is
very different, the distribution at sea is also different. Tim Guilford
found that, during this period, male Manx Shearwaters remained within
some 300 km of the Pembrokeshire study colony on Skomer, a distance
compatible with their return to land on most nights. Meanwhile the
females went further afield to the south- west, beyond the continental
shelf and into the Bay of Biscay, over 1,000 km from the colony.^3
Most albatrosses show a similar pattern to the Manx Shearwater, the
males lingering moderately near the colony while the females head away
on the exodus. It can take them on impressive journeys. For example,
Atlantic Yellow- nosed Albatrosses breeding on the mid- Atlantic island
of Gough may head 2,500– 3,000 km to the Benguela Current off South
Africa.^4
An intermediate pattern is seen in species where the male does quit
the colony during pre- laying but for a lesser period than the females.
Enter the Northern Fulmars breeding on Eynhallow, in the Orkneys,
and long studied by Aberdeen University researchers. Over excursions
lasting up to 32 days, birds reached a maximum of 2,900 km from the
colony. Males (18 days) spent less time away than females (25 days), and
the majority of males remained within the North Sea. On the other hand
most females flew north towards the Norwegian/Barents Sea, some reach-
ing North Cape at the extreme north of Norway.