Murphy's Petrel
Pterodroma ultima
A mainly gray or grayish brown petrel with a relatively heavy and pronounced forebody and more slender rear. Very pale faced with a relatively small, weak bill and indistinct brownish ‘M’ across back and wings. Highly pelagic, except near colonies. Great-winged Petrel is similar but uniformly brown, not gray, with a darker face. Providence Petrel is very similar but is, on average, less bulky in the forebody, appearing more slender, with a darker face. Providence also has much more contrasting white patches in the outer underwing, which in Murphy’s appear light gray at their palest. Trindade Petrel is somewhat similar, though appears more slender, and is more uniformly brown than the gray hue of Murphy’s Petrel. Silent at sea.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Pterodroma ultima
- Authority
- Murphy, 1949
- Order
- Procellariiformes
- Family
- Procellariidae
- Genus
- Pterodroma
Range and habitat
Very little is known about this species of petrel. It was not until the 1980s that it was determined that these petrels might be regular visitors far offshore of North America. It occurs in the South Pacific, nesting on rocky islets and cliffs off tropical oceanic islands in the Austral, Tuamotu, and Pitcairn groups. The bird has been recorded off the coast of the Hawaiian Islands and well off the Pacific Coast of the United States and in the southern Gulf of Alaska. Most reports of Murphy's petrels are over 40 miles offshore and the species reportedly has one of the greatest foraging ranges of any breeding seabird
- Breeding range
- PO : s Tuamotu, Gambier, Austral, Pitcairn, Easter is. (=Eastern Is.) and Salas y Gomez (se Polynesia)
- Non-breeding range
- to s of Aleution Is., Gulf of Alaska and ne Pacific coast
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Conservation
- Population trend
- unknown
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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