New Zealand Storm-Petrel
Fregetta maoriana
Small seabird endemic to New Zealand. Dark blackish-brown head, breast, upperparts, and tail. Rump and belly white with variable dark streaking running down from breast. Underwings have pale panel with broad dark edge. Note especially long legs, with feet trailing well behind the square tail. Thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered in 2003 on Little Barrier Island, which remains the only known breeding location. At sea, recorded mostly around New Zealand’s northern waters. Four similar species: Wilson’s Storm-Petrel has dark underparts and underwing; Black-bellied Storm-Petrel is larger, with shorter legs that still extend past tail and with a white belly that has a black line down the middle; White-bellied Storm-Petrel is larger, with feet that do not extend past tail; Gray-backed Storm-Petrel does not have a white rump.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Fregetta maoriana
- Authority
- (Mathews, 1932)
- Order
- Procellariiformes
- Family
- Oceanitidae
- Genus
- Fregetta
Range and habitat
- Breeding range
- PO : Little Barrier I. (e of n North I., New Zealand)
- Non-breeding range
- to seas off se Australia and Fiji area (sw Polynesia)
- Migration
- unknown
Conservation
- Population trend
- unknown
Photos
Distribution
Other Birds
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Locustella alfredi
Mid-sized warbler with a long tail. Dark brown overall, with a white throat and pale eye-line. Found very locally in middle-elevation habitats with a dense ground cover, including bamboo, forest, marsh, and lush grassy areas. Rare species that is not often seen. Most likely to be detected and identified by its distinctive song: a ratcheting up-and-down “dee-ka dee-ka dee-ka…” series which can last for several seconds. Very similar to Evergreen-forest Warbler, and best distinguished by its different song.
Sri Lanka Junglefowl
Gallus lafayettii
Wild chickenlike bird. Male is burnt orange with dark streaks, cockerel-like glossy black tail, and a prominent red comb marked with yellow on the crown. Gray-brown female has white streaks and prominent barring on its wings. Terrestrial, found in pairs or small groups in forests of lowlands and highlands over much of Sri Lanka. Generally keeps to cover. Only confusion is with domestic chicken; note lack of white at tail base, and yellow marking on comb of males, and bars in wings of females in Sri Lanka Junglefowl. Song a harsh “chyok-cher-chow”. Also stuttering “kik-kik-kik-kik” notes.
African Finfoot
Podica senegalensis
A dark, elongated, duck-like, aquatic bird with neon orange bill and legs. The back and underparts are variably spotted and barred. The throat is gray in the male and white in the female. It swims slow and low in the water with its tail held on the surface. This secretive bird moves in pairs on perennial rivers, swamps, and quiet clear backwaters, foraging under overhanging cover for invertebrates, frogs, and fish. The short, thick neck and bright-colored bill and feet differentiate it from darters and cormorants.
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