Skellig Islands consent. During the 2014 nesting season, black-legged kittiwake chicks in nests were swept into the sea by the downdraught from a helicopter and devoured by gulls. Both of the Skellig islands are known for their seabird colonies, and together comprise one of the most important seabird sites in Ireland, both for the population size and for the species diversity. Among the breeding birds are European storm petrel ("Hydrobates pelagicus"), northern gannet, northern fulmar ("Fulmarus glacialis"), Manx shearwater ("Puffinus puffinus"), black-legged kittiwake ("Rissa tridactyla"), common guillemot ("Uria aalge"), razorbill ("Alca torda") and Atlantic puffin ("Fratercula arctica") (with 4,000 or more puffins
Dune shearwater which bred in lava fields. Extinction of the species occurred about 2000–3000 years ago, contemporaneously with the first human settlement of the islands by the Guanches, with the cause likely to be human predation. Dune shearwater The dune shearwater ("Puffinus holeae"), also known as the Canarian shearwater or Hole's shearwater, was a relatively large shearwater which bred in the Canary Islands archipelago of the North Atlantic Ocean. Fossils have also been found in the Figueira Brava cave archaeological site on the western coast of Portugal. The specific epithet honours Mrs Jean Hole who collected fossil material of the species on