White-faced Storm-Petrel
Pelagodroma marina
Striking white-bodied storm-petrel with distinctive flight style: glides on stiff wings and bounces across the sea surface with both feet, much like a hopping kangaroo. Plumage also unique; look for mostly white face with dark mask. Also note extremely long legs projecting far beyond tail and rather long, slender bill. Fairly common and widespread in subtropical and tropical waters across the globe, with several disjunct and subtly variable populations. Can be seen singly or in groups when feeding; rarely mixes with other species of storm-petrel.
Identification
The white-faced storm petrel is 19 to 21 centimetres (7.5 to 8.3 in) in length with a 41 to 44 centimetres (16 to 17 in) wingspan. It has a pale brown to grey back, rump and wings with black flight feathers. It is white below, unlike other north Atlantic petrels, and has a white face with a black eye mask like a phalarope. Its plumage makes it one of the easier petrels to identify at sea.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Pelagodroma marina
- Authority
- (Latham, 1790)
- Order
- Procellariiformes
- Family
- Oceanitidae
- Genus
- Pelagodroma
Range and habitat
- Breeding range
- AO, IO, PO : Salvage (nw of Canary Is.), Canary and Cape Verde is. (Macaronesia, off nw Africa), Tristan da Cunha group including Gough (sc Atlantic Ocean), s Australian islets and New Zealand region
- Non-breeding range
- to subtropical waters in North and South Atlantic, nw and tropical Indian to Seychelles, and se Pacific oceans
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
The white-faced storm petrel is strictly pelagic outside the breeding season, and this, together with its often-remote breeding sites, makes this petrel a difficult bird to see from land. Only in severe storms might this species be pushed into headlands. There have been a handful of western Europe records from France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. It has a direct gliding flight and will patter on the water surface as it picks planktonic food items from the ocean surface. It is highly gregarious, but does not follow ships. Like most petrels, its walking ability is limited to a short shuffle to the burrow.<p>The white-faced storm petrel breeds on remote islands in the south Atlantic, such as Tristan da Cunha and also Australia and New Zealand. There are north Atlantic colonies on the Cape Verde Islands, Canary Islands and Savage Islands. It nests in colonies close to the sea in rock crevices and lays a single white egg. It spends the rest of the year at sea. It is strictly nocturnal at the breeding sites to avoid predation by gulls and skuas, and will even avoid coming to land on clear moonlit nights.
Conservation
Widespread throughout its large range, the white-faced storm petrel is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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