Band-rumped Storm-Petrel
Hydrobates castro
Fairly large storm-petrel; overall dark blackish-brown with rather narrow white rump band that wraps around the sides. Typical flight style powerful and fairly direct, often with long glides and high, smooth arcs. Pale band on upperwing is typically faint and does not extend to the leading edge of the wing. Uncommon in deep, warm water in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans; complex and very subtle variation across range. Probably comprises multiple different species. Most similar to Wilson's and Leach's Storm-Petrels, but note squared-off tail (sometimes with a very shallow notch), weaker upperwing bar, long wings, and more direct flight with smooth turns (less jolting than Leach's and less fluttery than Wilson's).
Identification
The band-rumped storm petrel is 19–21 cm in length with a 43–46 cm wingspan, and weighs 44–49 g. It is mainly brownish black with an extensive white rump. Similar to Leach's storm petrel with the forked tail, long wings, but Leach's has a more deeply forked tail, a differently shaped (V-shaped or triangular) white rump, and a 'tern-like' flight, whereas the band-rumped storm-petrel has a more 'shearwater-like' flight.
Taxonomy
Recent discoveries of 'cold season' and 'warm season' populations, which use the same nest sites at different times of year, and also differ in terms of vocalisations and moulting period, may hint at the existence of two 'cryptic species' within the currently understood limits of the species. After population genetics analyses of mtDNA, the warm season population in the Azores was recognized as a separate species, Monteiro's storm petrel.<p>It was formerly defined in the genus Oceanodroma before that genus was synonymized with Hydrobates. It is monotypic, but the names cryptoleucura and bangsi (see above synonyms) were each formerly regarded as separate subspecies.
- Scientific name
- Hydrobates castro
- Authority
- (Harcourt, 1851)
- Order
- Procellariiformes
- Family
- Hydrobatidae
- Genus
- Hydrobates
Range and habitat
The species breeds on islands in the warmer parts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. These include the Berlengas (a few tens of kilometres off mainland Portugal), the Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands and Saint Helena in the Atlantic, and in the Pacific off eastern Japan, on Kauai, Hawaii, and on the Galápagos Islands. In 2016, the species was reported to have also started breeding on the Mauna Loa volcano on the island of Hawaii.
- Breeding range
- PO, AO : Azores (cold-season breeding), Madeira (hot-season breeding), Desertas, Salvage, Canary and Cape Verde is. (n to s Macaronesia, w of n Africa); Berlengas Is. (just w of c Portugal); islands off St. Helena (tropical se Atlantic Ocean), Boatswainbird I. (just e of Ascension I.; se Atlantic Ocean); Hide-jima and Sangan-jima (Futagojima Is., e of s Honshu, c Japan); Kauai (w main Hawaiian Is.) and widely in Galápagos
- Non-breeding range
- in North Atlantic, to Gulf Stream of temperate nw Atlantic and offshore waters of n Gulf of Mexico, offshore waters of tropical e Atlantic off w, c Africa and in Gulf of Guinea; in North Pacific, seas s, e of Japan, near main Hawaiian Is., and ec Pacific from coasts of s Central America to nw South America and w to Marquesas (e Polynesia)
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
Birds nest in colonies close to the sea in rock crevices and females lay a single white egg per breeding attempt. The band-rumped storm petrel spends the non-breeding period at sea. It is strictly nocturnal at its breeding sites to avoid predation by gulls and diurnal raptors such as peregrines, and will even avoid coming to land on clear moonlit nights. Like most petrels, its walking ability is limited to a short shuffle from/to the burrow.<p>Individuals feed by picking up prey items (invertebrates, small vertebrates and sometimes carrion) from the water surface. A study aiming to determine the diving abilities of this species was actually conducted on the 'warm season' population from the Azores, which was later recognized as a distinct species (see below).
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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