Editing Seabird (section)

=== Away from the sea ===
While the definition of seabirds suggests that the birds in question spend their lives on the ocean, many seabird families have many species that spend some or even most of their lives inland away from the sea. Most strikingly, many species breed tens, hundreds or even thousands of miles inland. Some of these species still return to the ocean to feed; for example, the [[snow petrel]], the nests of which have been found {{convert|480|km|mi}} inland on the Antarctic mainland, are unlikely to find anything to eat around their breeding sites.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Croxall, J |author2=Steele, W. |author3=McInnes, S. |author4=Prince, P. |year=1995|title= Breeding Distribution of Snow Petrel ''Pagodroma nivea''|journal=Marine Ornithology |volume=23|pages= 69–99|url=http://www.marineornithology.org/PDF/23_2/23_2_1.pdf}}</ref> The [[marbled murrelet]] nests inland in [[old growth forest]], seeking huge [[conifer]]s with large branches to nest on.<ref>Nelson, S. K. (1997). Marbled Murrelet (''Brachyramphus marmoratus''). In ''The Birds of North America'', No. 276 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C</ref> Other species, such as the [[California gull]], nest and feed inland on lakes, and then move to the coasts in the winter.<ref>Winkler, D. W. (1996). California Gull (''Larus californicus''). In ''The Birds of North America'', No. 259 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.</ref> Some cormorant, [[pelican]], gull and tern species have individuals that never visit the sea at all, spending their lives on lakes, rivers, [[swamp]]s and, in the case of some of the gulls, cities and [[agriculture|agricultural]] land. In these cases, it is thought that these terrestrial or freshwater birds evolved from marine ancestors.<ref name="Gaston" /> Some seabirds, principally those that nest in [[tundra]], as skuas and phalaropes do, will migrate over land as well.<ref name="Rubega"/><ref name="Wiley">{{cite journal |url= https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/parjae/cur/movement |title= Parasitic Jaeger (''Stercorarius parasiticus'' |series=Version 1.0 |url-access=subscription |last1=Wiley|first1= R. Haven|last2= Lee| first2= David S. |editor-first1= Shawn M. |editor-last1= Billerman |date=March 4, 2020 |journal=Birds of the World |publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology |doi= 10.2173/bow.parjae.01|s2cid= 216364499|access-date=March 26, 2021}}</ref>

The more marine species, such as petrels, auks and [[gannet]]s, are more restricted in their habits, but are occasionally seen inland as vagrants. This most commonly happens to young inexperienced birds, but can happen in great numbers to exhausted adults after large [[storm]]s, an event known as a ''wreck''.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Harris, M.  |author2=Wanless, S.  |name-list-style=amp |year=1996|title=Differential responses of Guillemot ''Uria aalge'' and Shag ''Phalacrocorax aristotelis'' to a late winter wreck|journal=Bird Study |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages= 220–230|doi=10.1080/00063659609461014|bibcode=1996BirdS..43..220H |bibcode-access=free |doi-access=free}}</ref>