Great-winged Petrel
Pterodroma macroptera
A medium-sized, bulky dark petrel with a large head and long pointed wings. It often shows a grizzled, gray scaly muzzle around the bill. It flies fast with a flexed wrist and its heavy head angled downward, giving it a characteristic appearance. It breeds on subantarctic islands between the Tristan group and western Australia, dispersing across the southern oceans between 30 and 50°S, where it is a deep ocean specialist. Several species are similar to Great-winged Petrel. Gray-faced Petrel, sometimes considered the same species, breeds off New Zealand and is almost identical except for a more extensive grizzled face patch. The smaller Kerguelen Petrel has a more contrasting silvery underwing. The gadfly petrels mostly have more pale patterning on the underwing or belly and lack the bulkiness of Great-winged Petrel.
Identification
This is a large seabird, with a body length of 42–45 cm. The bird is completely dark brown except for a variable patch of white near the base of the bill, which is black.<p>It is separated from sooty shearwater and short-tailed shearwater by the all-dark underwing, the thick, stubby bill, and different jizz. The similar flesh-footed shearwater has a light, pinkish bill. Petrels in the genus Procellaria are larger and have a less bounding flight.[citation needed]
Taxonomy
This species was formerly treated as containing two subspecies - P. m. macroptera and P. m. gouldi, the latter of which is endemic to New Zealand. As of 2014, the latter is recognized as a species in its own right, the grey-faced petrel (Pterodroma gouldi). In 2016 further research was published supporting the full species status of the grey-faced petrel.
- Scientific name
- Pterodroma macroptera
- Authority
- (Smith, A, 1840)
- Order
- Procellariiformes
- Family
- Procellariidae
- Genus
- Pterodroma
Range and habitat
The great-winged petrel breeds in the Southern Hemisphere between 30 and 50 degrees south with colonies on Tristan da Cunha, Gough Island, the Crozet Islands, the Prince Edward Islands, the Kerguelen Islands and on the coasts of southern Australia. It is a rare vagrant to the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, United States.
- Breeding range
- SO : subtropical to temperate is. from Tristan da Cunha and Gough (sc Atlantic Ocean) to Kerguelen Is. (se Indian Ocean) and islets off sw Australia
- Non-breeding range
- subtropical to temperate South Atlantic and South Indian oceans to s African and w Australian waters
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
The species feeds mostly on squid and to a lesser degree on fish and crustaceans. Prey is generally caught at night, by dipping and surface-seizing. The great-winged petrel will on occasion follow whales and associate with other related bird species to feed. Breeding occurs in the southern winter (beginning in April); nests are either solitary or in small colonies, located in burrows or aboveground among boulders or low vegetation.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Other Birds
Tawitawi Brown-Dove
Phapitreron cinereiceps
A medium-sized dove of lowland secondary forest on Tawi-Tawi Island, where it is the only brown-dove. Dark brown above with a gray head, purplish iridescence on the back of the neck, rufous-brown underparts from the throat to the belly, white under the base of the tail, and a pale gray tail tip. Does not resemble any other similarly sized doves in its range. Sings an accelerating series on the same pitch, ending in a trill, “dup-dup-dup-du-du-d-d-drrrrr,” reminiscent of a ping-pong ball falling on a table.
Magellanic Cormorant
Leucocarbo magellanicus
Also known as Rock Shag, this rather small cormorant is fairly common along rocky coasts where it feeds mainly in inshore waters. Nests colonially on cliffs and other steep surfaces, sometimes on jetties with colonies of Imperial Cormorants. Adult is distinctive with a white body, black head and neck with variable white face patch, and a red eyering. All-dark juvenile told from Neotropic Cormorant by pink feet and dark face with reddish eyering.
Greater Prairie-Chicken
Tympanuchus cupido
Plump, chickenlike bird found in grasslands. Body and wings entirely barred brown with paler buffy throat. In spring, males gather at display site and dance to attract females: look for them hunched over with earlike feathers protruding from the head and yellowish-orange skin exposed on the neck. Inconspicuous and difficult to find away from display sites. Separate from Lesser Prairie-Chicken by range; averages slightly darker and larger than Lesser. Darker than Sharp-tailed Grouse with more heavily barred sides and belly; rounded tail.
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