Editing Seabird (section)

== Relationship with humans ==

=== Seabirds and fisheries ===
Seabirds have had a long association with both [[fishery|fisheries]] and [[sailor]]s, and both have drawn benefits and disadvantages from the relationship.

Fishermen have traditionally used seabirds as indicators of both [[Shoaling and schooling|fish shoals]],<ref name="AU" /> underwater [[bank (topography)|banks]] that might indicate fish stocks, and of potential landfall. In fact, the known association of seabirds with land was instrumental in allowing the [[Polynesia]]ns to locate tiny landmasses in the Pacific.<ref name="Burger" /> Seabirds have provided food for fishermen away from home, as well as bait. Famously, tethered cormorants have been used to catch fish directly. Indirectly, fisheries have also benefited from [[guano]] from colonies of seabirds acting as [[fertilizer]] for the surrounding seas.<ref name="Perkins">{{cite web |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/bird-poop-brings-38-million-metric-tons-nitrogen-out-sea-each-year |url-access=limited |title=Bird poop brings 3.8 million metric tons of nitrogen out of the sea each year|last=Perkins |first=Sid |date=January 23, 2018 |website=Science Magazine |publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science |access-date=March 26, 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220607193721/https://www.science.org/content/article/bird-poop-brings-38-million-metric-tons-nitrogen-out-sea-each-year |archive-date= Jun 7, 2022 }}</ref>

Negative effects on fisheries are mostly restricted to raiding by birds on [[aquaculture]],<ref>{{cite report|last1=Collis|first1= K.|last2= Adamany|first2= S. |last3 = Roby|first3 = D. D.|last4 =Craig|first4= D. P.|last5= Lyons|first5= D. E.|date =2000|url = http://www.govdocs.aquake.org/cgi/reprint/2004/915/9150520.pdf |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060831053949/http://www.govdocs.aquake.org/cgi/reprint/2004/915/9150520.pdf |archive-date = 31 August 2006|url-status = dead |title = Avian Predation on Juvenile Salmonids in the Lower Columbia River|publisher = Bonneville Power Administration|location = Portland, OR}}</ref> although [[long-line fishing|long-lining]] fisheries also have to deal with [[bait (luring substance)|bait]] stealing. There have been claims of prey depletion by seabirds of fishery stocks, and while there is some evidence of this, the effects of seabirds are considered smaller than that of [[marine mammal]]s and predatory fish (like [[tuna]]).<ref name="Burger" />

[[File:Seabirds longlinersm.jpg|thumb|right|Seabirds (mostly northern fulmars) flocking at a long-lining vessel]]Some seabird species have benefited from fisheries, particularly from discarded fish and [[offal]]. These discards compose 30% of the food of seabirds in the [[North Sea]], for example, and compose up to 70% of the total food of some seabird populations.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Oro, D. |author2=Ruiz, X. |author3=Pedrocchi, V. |author4=Gonzalez-Solis, J. |year=1997|title=Diet and adult time budgets of Audouin's Gull ''Larus audouinii'' in response to changes in commercial fisheries|journal=Ibis |volume=139|pages= 631–637|doi=10.1111/j.1474-919X.1997.tb04685.x|issue=4}}</ref> This can have other impacts; for example, the spread of the [[northern fulmar]] through the [[United Kingdom]] is attributed in part to the availability of discards.<ref>Thompson, P. M. (2004). [http://www.abdn.ac.uk/lighthouse/documents/Thompson_fulmars.pdf Identifying drivers of change; did fisheries play a role in the spread of North Atlantic fulmars?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081217092738/http://www.abdn.ac.uk/lighthouse/documents/Thompson_fulmars.pdf |date=December 17, 2008 }} in '' Management of marine ecosystems: monitoring change in upper trophic levels''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press</ref> Discards generally benefit surface feeders, such as gannets and petrels, to the detriment of pursuit divers like penguins and guillemots, which can get entangled in the nets.<ref name="Brooke197">{{cite book |last=Brooke |first=Michael |date=2018 |title=Far From Land: The Mysterious Lives of Seabirds |location=Princeton |publisher=Princeton University Press |page=197 |isbn=978-0-691-17418-1}}</ref>

Fisheries also have negative effects on seabirds, and these effects, particularly on the long-lived and slow-breeding albatrosses, are a source of increasing concern to conservationists. The bycatch of seabirds entangled in nets or hooked on fishing lines has had a big impact on seabird numbers; for example, an estimated 100,000 albatrosses are hooked and drown each year on tuna lines set out by long-line fisheries.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=BirdLife International/RSPB |year=2005 |url=http://www.savethealbatross.net/the_problem.asp |title=Save the Albatross: The Problem |access-date=May 4, 2006 |archive-date=June 23, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130623234319/http://www.rspb.org.uk/supporting/campaigns/albatross/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|year= 1991|title=Albatross mortality and associated bait loss in the Japanese longline fishery in the southern ocean|journal=Biological Conservation |volume=55|pages= 255–268|doi=10.1016/0006-3207(91)90031-4|issue=3|last1=Brothers|first1=Nigel|bibcode=1991BCons..55..255B }}</ref>{{Update inline|date=April 2021|reason=Likely a different number now}} Overall, many hundreds of thousands of birds are trapped and killed each year, a source of concern for some of the rarest species (for example, only about 2,000 [[short-tailed albatross]]es are known to still exist). Seabirds are also thought to suffer when overfishing occurs.<ref name="Cury">{{cite journal |last1=Cury |first1=P. M. |last2=Boyd |first2=I. L. |last3=Bonhommeau |first3=S. |last4=Anker-Nilssen |first4=T. |last5=Crawford |first5=R. J. M. |last6=Furness |first6=R. W. |last7=Mills |first7=J. A. |last8=Murphy |first8=E. J. |last9=Osterblom |first9=H. |last10=Paleczny |first10=M. |last11=Piatt |first11=J. F. |last12=Roux |first12=J.-P. |last13=Shannon |first13=L. |last14=Sydeman |first14=W. J. |title=Global seabird response to forage fish depletion—one-third for the birds |journal=Science |date=December 23, 2011 |volume=334 |issue=6063 |pages=1703–1706 |doi=10.1126/science.1212928 |jstor=41352310 |pmid=22194577 |bibcode=2011Sci...334.1703C |s2cid=1855657 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/41352310.pdf}}</ref> Changes to the marine ecosystems caused by dredging, which alters the biodiversity of the seafloor, can also have a negative impact.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=King |first1=Sd |last2=Harper |first2=Ga |last3=Wright |first3=Jb |last4=McInnes |first4=Jc |last5=van der Lubbe |first5=Je |last6=Dobbins |first6=Ml |last7=Murray |first7=Sj |title=Site-specific reproductive failure and decline of a population of the Endangered yellow-eyed penguin: a case for foraging habitat quality |journal=Marine Ecology Progress Series |date=October 25, 2012 |volume=467 |pages=233–244 |doi=10.3354/meps09969|bibcode=2012MEPS..467..233K |doi-access=free }}</ref>

=== Exploitation ===
The [[hunting]] of seabirds and the collecting of seabird [[egg (biology)|eggs]] have contributed to the declines of many species, and the [[extinct]]ion of several, including the [[great auk]] and the [[spectacled cormorant]]. Seabirds have been hunted for food by coastal peoples throughout history—one of the earliest instances known is in southern Chile, where [[archeology|archaeological]] excavations in middens has shown hunting of albatrosses, cormorants and shearwaters from 5000 BP.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Simeone, A.  |author2=Navarro, X.  |name-list-style=amp |year=2002|title=Human exploitation of seabirds in coastal southern Chile during the mid-Holocene|journal=Rev. Chil. Hist. Nat. |volume=75 |issue=2 |pages= 423–431|doi=10.4067/S0716-078X2002000200012|doi-access=free}}</ref> This pressure has led to some species becoming extinct in many places; in particular, at least 20 species of an original 29 no longer breed on [[Easter Island]]. In the 19th century, the hunting of seabirds for [[fat]] deposits and feathers for the [[Hat|millinery]] trade reached industrial levels. [[wikt:muttonbirding|Muttonbirding]] (harvesting shearwater chicks) developed as important industries in both New Zealand and Tasmania, and the name of one species, the [[providence petrel]], is derived from its seemingly miraculous arrival on [[Norfolk Island]] where it provided a windfall for starving European settlers.<ref name="Anderson">{{cite journal|author=Anderson, A. |year=1996|title=Origins of Procellariidae hunting in the Southwest Pacific|journal=International Journal of Osteoarchaeology |volume=6|pages= 403–410|doi=10.1002/(SICI)1099-1212(199609)6:4<403::AID-OA296>3.0.CO;2-0|issue=4}}</ref> In the [[Falkland Islands]], hundreds of thousands of penguins were harvested for their oil each year. Seabird eggs have also long been an important source of food for sailors undertaking long sea voyages, as well as being taken when settlements grow in areas near a colony. Eggers from [[San Francisco, California|San Francisco]] took almost half a million eggs a year from the [[Farallon Islands]] in the mid-19th century, a period in the islands' history from which the seabird species are still recovering.<ref>White, Peter (1995), The Farallon Islands, ''Sentinels of the Golden Gate'', Scottwall Associates: San Francisco, {{ISBN|0-942087-10-0}}</ref>

Both hunting and egging continue today, although not at the levels that occurred in the past, and generally in a more controlled manner. For example, the [[Māori people|Māori]] of [[Stewart Island / Rakiura]] continue to harvest the chicks of the sooty shearwater as they have done for centuries, using traditional stewardship, ''[[kaitiaki]]tanga'', to manage the harvest, but now also work with the [[University of Otago]] in studying the populations.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tītī traditions |date=January 12, 2016 |url=https://www.otago.ac.nz/te-poutama-maori/staff/commerce/otago121919.html |publisher=University of Otago |access-date=October 13, 2020}}</ref> In [[Greenland]], however, uncontrolled hunting is pushing many species into steep decline.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Burnham, W. |author2=Burnham, K. K. |author3=Cade, T. J. |year=2005|title=Past and present assessments of bird life in Uummannaq District, West Greenland|journal=Dansk Orn. Foren. Tidsskr. |volume=99: 196–208 |url=http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2006/01/birdlife_in_uummannaq.pdf}}</ref>

=== Other threats ===
{{See also|Introduced mammals on seabird breeding islands}}
[[File:Oiledcrestedauklet.jpeg|thumb|This [[crested auklet]] was oiled in Alaska during the spill of [[MV Selendang Ayu|MV ''Selendang Ayu'']] in 2004.]]
Other human factors have led to declines and even extinctions in seabird populations and species. Of these, perhaps the most serious are [[introduced species]]. Seabirds, breeding predominantly on small isolated islands, are vulnerable to predators because they have lost many behaviours associated with defence from predators.<ref name ="Moors" /> [[Feral cat]]s can take seabirds as large as albatrosses, and many introduced rodents, such as the [[Polynesian rat|Pacific rat]], take eggs hidden in burrows. Introduced goats, cattle, rabbits and other [[herbivore]]s can create problems, particularly when species need vegetation to protect or shade their young.<ref name ="car">{{cite journal|author1=Carlile, N. |author2=Proiddel, D. |author3=Zino, F. |author4=Natividad, C. |author5=Wingate, D. B. |year=2003|title=A review of four successful recovery programmes for threatened sub-tropical petrels|url=http://marineornithology.org/PDF/31_2/31_2_185-192.pdf|journal=Marine Ornithology |volume=31|pages= 185–192}}</ref> The disturbance of breeding colonies by humans is often a problem as well—visitors, even well-meaning tourists, can flush brooding adults off a colony, leaving chicks and eggs vulnerable to predators.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Beale |first1=Colin M. |last2=Monaghan |first2=Pat |title=Human disturbance: people as predation-free predators? |journal=Journal of Applied Ecology |date=April 2004 |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=335–343 |doi=10.1111/j.0021-8901.2004.00900.x|doi-access=free |bibcode=2004JApEc..41..335B }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Watson |first1=Hannah |last2=Bolton |first2=Mark |last3=Monaghan |first3=Pat |title=Out of sight but not out of harm's way: Human disturbance reduces reproductive success of a cavity-nesting seabird |journal=Biological Conservation |date=June 2014 |volume=174 |issue=100 |pages=127–133 |doi=10.1016/j.biocon.2014.03.020|pmid=24899731 |pmc=4039997 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2014BCons.174..127W }}</ref>

The build-up of [[toxin]]s and pollutants in seabirds is also a concern. Seabirds, being [[apex predator]]s, suffered from the ravages of the insecticide [[DDT]] until it was banned; DDT was implicated, for example, in embryo development problems and the skewed sex ratio of [[western gull]]s in southern California.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Fry, D.  |author2=Toone, C.  |name-list-style=amp |year=1981|title=DDT-induced feminization of gull embryos|journal=Science |volume=213 |issue=4510 |pages= 922–924|doi=10.1126/science.7256288|pmid=7256288|bibcode=1981Sci...213..922F}}</ref> [[Oil spill]]s are also a threat to seabirds: the oil is toxic, and bird feathers become saturated by the oil, causing them to lose their waterproofing.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Dunnet, G. |author2=Crisp, D. |author3=Conan, G. |author4=Bourne, W. |year=1982|title=Oil Pollution and Seabird Populations [and Discussion]|journal=[[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B]] |volume=297 |issue=1087 |pages= 413–427|doi=10.1098/rstb.1982.0051|bibcode=1982RSPTB.297..413D |doi-access=free }}</ref> Oil pollution in particular threatens species with restricted ranges or already depressed populations.<ref name="BirdLifeMMurrelet">{{cite web |url=http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/marbled-murrelet-brachyramphus-marmoratus/text |title=Species factsheet: ''Brachyramphus marmoratus'' |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2021 |website=BirdLife International Data Zone |publisher= BirdLife International |access-date=March 31, 2021}}</ref><ref name="IronyGannet">{{cite news |last=Hagen |first=Christina |date=December 12, 2017 |title=The ultimate irony: Cape Gannets, famed for their greed, are now starving |url=https://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/ultimate-irony-cape-gannets-famed-their-greed-are-now-starving |work=BirdLife International |location= |access-date= March 31, 2021}}</ref>

[[Climate change]] mainly affect seabirds via changes to their [[habitat]]: various processes in the ocean lead to decreased availability of food and colonies are more often flooded as a consequence of [[sea level rise]] and extreme rainfall events. Heat stress from extreme temperatures is an additional threat.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Dias|first1=Maria P.|last2=Martin|first2=Rob|last3=Pearmain|first3=Elizabeth J.|last4=Burfield|first4=Ian J.|last5=Small|first5=Cleo|last6=Phillips|first6=Richard A.|last7=Yates|first7=Oliver|last8=Lascelles|first8=Ben|last9=Borboroglu|first9=Pablo Garcia|last10=Croxall|first10=John P.|date=2019|title=Threats to seabirds: A global assessment|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320719307499|journal=Biological Conservation|language=en|volume=237|pages=525–537|doi=10.1016/j.biocon.2019.06.033|bibcode=2019BCons.237..525D |s2cid=201204878 |issn=0006-3207}}</ref> Some seabirds have used changing wind patterns to forage further and more efficiently.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Bindoff|first1=N. L.|title=Special Report: The Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate|last2=Cheung|first2=W. W. L.|last3=Kairo|first3=J. G.|last4=Arístegui|first4=J.|last5=Guinder|first5=V. A.|last6=Hallberg|first6=R.|year=2019|page=479|chapter=Chapter 5: Changing Ocean, Marine Ecosystems, and Dependent Communities|display-authors=4|chapter-url=https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/3/2019/11/09_SROCC_Ch05_FINAL.pdf}}</ref>

In 2023, [[plasticosis]], a new disease caused solely by plastics, was discovered in seabirds.
The birds identified as having the disease have scarred digestive tracts from ingesting [[plastic waste]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/03/plasticosis-new-disease-caused-by-plastics-discovered-in-seabirds|title=New disease caused by plastics discovered in seabirds |date=March 3, 2023 |work=The Guardian |access-date=March 4, 2023}}</ref>  "When birds ingest small pieces of plastic, they found, it inflames the digestive tract. Over time, the persistent inflammation causes tissues to become scarred and disfigured, affecting digestion, growth and survival."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nhm.ac.uk/press-office/press-releases/new-disease-caused-solely-by-plastics-discovered-in-seabirds-.html|title=New disease caused solely by plastics discovered in seabirds |date=March 3, 2023 |publisher=Natural History Museum |access-date=March 4, 2023}}</ref>

=== Conservation ===
The threats faced by seabirds have not gone unnoticed by scientists or the [[conservation movement]]. As early as 1903, U.S. President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] was convinced of the need to declare [[Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge|Pelican Island]] in Florida a [[National Wildlife Refuge]] to protect the bird colonies (including the nesting [[brown pelican]]s),<ref>{{cite web |publisher=USFWS Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge|url=http://www.fws.gov/pelicanisland/history.html|title= History of Pelican Island}}</ref> and in 1909 he protected the Farallon Islands. Today many important seabird colonies are given some measure of protection, from [[Heron Island, Australia|Heron Island]] in Australia to [[Triangle Island]] in British Columbia.<ref name="HeronIsland">{{cite web |url=http://www.nprsr.qld.gov.au/parks/capricornia-cays/about.html |title=About Capricornia Cays |date=June 7, 2011 |publisher=Department of National Parks, Recreation, Sport and Racing |access-date=March 30, 2021 }}</ref><ref name="Corday">{{cite news |last=Corday |first=Chris |date=2017 |title=Forbidden Island |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/sh/lBuyhpcqVr/forbidden-island/ |work=CBC |location=Toronto |access-date= March 30, 2021}}</ref>

[[Island restoration]] techniques, pioneered by New Zealand, enable the removal of exotic invaders from increasingly large islands. Feral cats have been removed from [[Ascension Island]], [[Arctic fox]]es from many islands in the [[Aleutian Islands]],<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Williams, J. C. |author2=Byrd G. V. |author3=Konyukhov, N. B. |year=2003|title=Whiskered Auklets ''Aethia pygmaea'', foxes, humans and how to right a wrong|journal=Marine Ornithology |volume=31|pages= 175–180 |url=http://www.marineornithology.org/PDF/31_2/31_2_175-180.pdf}}</ref> and rats from [[Campbell Island, New Zealand|Campbell Island]]. The removal of these introduced species has led to increases in numbers of species under pressure and even the return of extirpated ones. After the removal of cats from Ascension Island, seabirds began to nest there again for the first time in over a hundred years.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=BirdLife International |year=2005|url=http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2005/07/ascension.html |title=Stamps celebrate seabird return}}</ref>

Seabird mortality caused by [[Longline bycatch in Hawaii|long-line fisheries]] can be greatly reduced by techniques such as setting long-line bait at night, dying the bait blue, setting the bait underwater, increasing the amount of weight on lines and by using bird scarers,<ref>Food and Agriculture Organisation (1999). [http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/DOCREP/005/W9817E/W9817E00.HTM The incidental catch of seabirds by longline fisheries: worldwide review and technical guidelines for mitigation] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060629171342/http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=%2FDOCREP%2F005%2FW9817E%2FW9817E00.HTM |date=June 29, 2006 }}. FAO Fisheries Circular No.937. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome</ref> and their deployment is increasingly required by many national fishing fleets.

One of the Millennium Projects in the UK was the [[Scottish Seabird Centre]], near the important bird sanctuaries on [[Bass Rock]], [[Fidra]] and the surrounding islands. The area is home to huge colonies of gannets, [[puffin]]s, skuas and other seabirds. The centre allows visitors to watch live video from the islands as well as learn about the threats the birds face and how we can protect them, and has helped to significantly raise the profile of seabird conservation in the UK. Seabird tourism can provide income for coastal communities as well as raise the profile of seabird conservation, although it needs to be managed to ensure it does not harm the colonies and nesting birds.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Yorio |first1=Pablo |last2=Frere |first2=Esteban |last3=Gandini |first3=Patricia |last4=Schiavini |first4=Adrián |title=Tourism and recreation at seabird breeding sites in Patagonia, Argentina: current concerns and future prospects |journal=Bird Conservation International |date=December 2001 |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=231–245 |doi=10.1017/S0959270901000314|doi-access=free }}</ref> For example, the [[northern royal albatross]] colony at [[Taiaroa Head]] in New Zealand attracts 40,000 visitors a year.<ref name="Brooke" />

The plight of albatross and large seabirds, as well as other marine creatures, being taken as bycatch by long-line fisheries, has been addressed by a large number of [[non-governmental organization]]s (including [[BirdLife International]], the [[American Bird Conservancy]] and the [[Royal Society for the Protection of Birds]]).<ref name="BirdLifeBycatch">{{cite web |url= https://www.birdlife.org/bycatch |title= Ending Seabird Bycatch |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2021 |website= BirdLife International |access-date=April 1, 2021}}</ref><ref name="Wiedenfeld">{{cite web |url=https://abcbirds.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Seabird-Bycatch-Solutions_2016_InternetRequired_LowRes.pdf |title=Seabird Bycatch Solutions for Fishery Sustainability |last=Wiedenfeld |first=D.A. |date=2016 |website= American Bird Conservancy |access-date= April 1, 2021}}</ref><ref name="Cutlip">{{cite news |last=Cutlip |first=Kimbra |date=August 2, 2017 |title=Mitigating Seabird Bycatch with Global Fishing Watch |url= https://globalfishingwatch.org/research/mitigating-seabird-bycatch-with-global-fishing-watch/ |work=Global Fishing Watch |location= |access-date= April 1, 2021}}</ref> This led to the [[Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels]], a legally binding treaty designed to protect these threatened species, which has been ratified by thirteen countries as of 2021 (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, France, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, South Africa, Spain, Uruguay, United Kingdom).<ref>{{cite web|title=Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels Site|url=http://www.acap.aq/|access-date=March 20, 2021|publisher=Australian Antarctic Division}}</ref>

=== Role in culture ===
[[File:Pelican in its piety.jpg|thumb|right|Depiction of a pelican with chicks on a stained glass window, Saint Mark's Church, [[Gillingham, Kent|Gillingham]], [[Kent]]]]
Many seabirds are little studied and poorly known because they live far out at sea and breed in isolated colonies. Some seabirds, particularly the albatrosses and gulls, are more well known to humans. The albatross has been described as "the most legendary of birds",<ref name ="delhoyo">{{ cite book | last=Carboneras | first=C. | year=1992 | chapter=Family Diomedeidae (Albatrosses) | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Sargatal | editor3-first=J. | title=Handbook of the Birds of the World | volume=1: Ostrich to Ducks | place=Barcelona, Spain | publisher=Lynx Edicions | isbn=84-87334-10-5 | pages=198–215 | chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofbirdso0001unse/page/198/mode/1up | chapter-url-access=registration }}</ref> and have a variety of myths and legends associated with them. While it is widely considered unlucky to harm them, the notion that sailors believed that is a myth<ref name="Brit">{{ cite book | last1=Cocker | first1=Mark | last2=Mabey | first2=Richard | year=2005 | title=Birds Britannica | place=London | publisher=Chatto and Windus | page=10 | isbn=978-0-7011-6907-7 }}</ref> that derives from [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]]'s famous poem, "[[The Rime of the Ancient Mariner]]", in which a sailor is punished for killing an albatross by having to wear its corpse around his neck. Sailors did, however, consider it unlucky to touch a storm petrel, especially one that landed on the ship.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Carboneras | first=C. | year=1992 | chapter=Family Hydrobatidae (Storm-petrels) | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Sargatal | editor3-first=J. | title=Handbook of the Birds of the World | volume=1: Ostrich to Ducks | place=Barcelona, Spain | publisher=Lynx Edicions | isbn=84-87334-10-5 | pages=258–271 | chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofbirdso0001unse/page/258/mode/1up| chapter-url-access=registration }}</ref>

Gulls are one of the most commonly seen seabirds because they frequent human-made habitats (such as cities and [[landfill|dumps]]) and often show a fearless nature. Gulls have been used as metaphors, as in ''[[Jonathan Livingston Seagull]]'' by [[Richard Bach]], or to denote a closeness to the sea; in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', they appear in the insignia of [[Gondor]] and therefore [[Númenor]] (used in the design of the films), and they call [[Legolas]] to (and across) the sea. Pelicans have long been associated with mercy and [[altruism]] because of an early [[Christianity|Christian]] myth that they split open their breast to feed their starving chicks.<ref name ="elliot" />