Ashy Storm-Petrel
From WikiBird
Contents |
Size
Length: ??cm (??in), Wingspan: ??cm (??in)
Field Marks
Medium-sized storm-petrel with dark bill with tube on top. Uniformly sooty-brown plumage. Somewhat paler underwings. Dark rump. Forked tail. Shallow wingbeats. Sexes similar
Similar species
Most likely to be confused with other storm petrels. Black is larger with deeper wingbeats. Least is smaller with more rapid wingbeats and a wedge-shaped tail. Other species have white rumps.
Sounds
Feeding & Behavior
Feeds nocturnally on cephalopods, fish (particularly the deep sea myctophids, which rise to the sea's surface at night) and euphausiid krill. will also attend fishing vessels for the fish oils released when the nets are pulled. Gregarious.
Habitat & Nesting
Pelagic bird only coming ashore to breed. Nests in rock burrows on offshore islands, returning to the nests at night. It has a long breeding cycle, laying eggs in May and fledging in October.
Range
Forages on the California Current, but undertakes no large migration and doesn't range as far as other species of storm-petrel. In the early fall large flocks can be seen in Monterey Bay. Breeds on 17 islands in the northeast Pacific, principally off California, but also northwestern Mexico. Half the world's population nests on the Farallon Islands, off San Francisco, other breeding islands include the 8 Channel Islands of California (San Miguel Island, Santa Cruz Island, Anacapa Island, Santa Barbara Island, Santa Catalina Island and San Clemente Island), and a small population on Mexico's Coronados.
Resources
