Petrels Night and Day: A Sound Approach

Ever wondered what White-faced Storm-Petrels sound like? No, they don't go "boing, boing, boing" as their wave hopping antics would suggest. A spectacular new book by Magnus Robb, Killian Mullarney and others called Petrels Night and Day: A Sound Approach Guide, has the answer and much, much more.

Using two CD's worth of sound recordings, a wonderfully readable text, eighteen full-page color plates and a heep of spectacular photographs, the authors take us on a sweeping tour through the eastern North Atlantic and Mediterranean in search of petrels, shearwaters, fulmar and storm-petrels. The result is a master work that sets a new standard for natural history guides. The material on field identification is absolutely cutting edge, with detailed treatments of several potential new splits. Pelagic birders on both sides of the Atlantic will find this a treasure trove of information and an inspiration.

Checkout the Oceanwanderers Bookshelf for the full review.

Probable Swinhoe's Storm-Petrels from Atlantic, Mediterranean and Red Sea

I've tabulated a very informal and incomplete list of reports from the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Red Seas of dark-rumped petrels that are presumed to be Swinhoe's Storm-Petrel.

ENGLAND
?? 'Chalice petrel' 3 Aug 1998 (ATS, ph, see Garner and Mullarney 2004)
Tynemouth Pier, Tyne. &. Wear, 19 & 26 July 1989 (Tp*)
Tynemouth Pier, Tyne. &. Wear, 7 July 1990 (Tp*)
Tynemouth Pier, Tyne. &. Wear, 31 July 1991 (Tp* controlled)
Tynemouth Pier, Tyne. &. Wear, July 1992 (Tp* controlled)
Tynemouth Pier, Tyne. &. Wear, July 1994 (Tp* controlled)
at sea off Scilly Islands, 21 July 2006 (ATS, Ph)
FRANCE
Banneg, Bretagne, 27 Jul 1989 (Tp, see Bretagnolle et al 1991)
GERMANY
Cuxhaven, Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), 24 Sept 2004 (see Aumüller et al. 2005)
NETHERLANDS
Camperduin, Bergen, Noord-Holland, 22 Sept 2004 (NOT ACCEPTED by CDNA)
NORWAY
Revekaien, Jaeren, Rogaland, 13 Aug 1996 (Tp)
Revekaien, Jaeren, Rogaland, 9 Aug 1997 (Tp*)
Revekaien, Jaeren, Rogaland, July 2000 (Tp* controlled)
Revekaien, Jaeren, Rogaland, Aug 2000 (Tp* controlled)
Revekaien, Jaeren, Rogaland, 5 Aug 2003 (Tp* controlled)
Hernyken, Nordland, Røst, 13 Aug 2006 (Tp)
IRELAND
Bridges of Ross, Clare, 15 Aug 1985 (?)
Great Skellig Rock, Kerry, 1 July 2000 (Tp)
ISRAEL (Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea)
Eilat, Jan 1958 (Sp)
North Beach, Eilat, 8 Sept 2001 (Sp, Tel Aviv Uni #AV15980, see Reuven et al. Sandgrouse 25:150-151)
Eilat, 19 Apr 2003 (ATS, Ph, Sp, see Granit and Smith 2004 Sandgrouse 26(1): 51-52)
North Beach, Eilat, Sept 2004
Eilat, 24 Jan 2008 (Sp)
ITALY
Genoa, Liguria, 11 Aug 1991 (see Arcamone et al. 1995)
Mid-Atlantic (between Sierra Leone and Brazil)
2, 04 deg 13' N, 19 deg 10'W (ATS, see Hales and Vaughn, 2003)
PORTUGAL
Ponta da Almadena, Luz, Algarve, 27 June 1998 (Tp, Ph)
SCOTLAND
Cove Harbor, Aberdeenshire, 5 Aug 2000 (Tp, Baxter and Scott)
Coll, Argyll, 10 May 2004
SELVAGENS ISLANDS, PORTUGAL
Selvagem Grande 29 Jun 1983 (Tp* see James and Robertson 1985)
1986 (Tp*)
Selvagem Grande 30 Jun 1988 (Tp, see Bretagnolle et al 1991)
17 Aug 2007 (Tp*)
SPAIN
Isla Benidorm, 13 Jul 1994 (Tp, see King and Minguez 1994)
Ses Bledes, Cabrera Is, 13 Aug 1997 (Tp, see McMinn and Dietrich 1997)
USA
Gulf Stream, North Carolina, Aug 1993 (ATS, see Brinkley 1995)
Gulf Stream, North Carolina, 8 Aug 1998 (ATS, Ph, see O'Brian et al. 1999)
Gulf Stream, North Carolina, 2 Jun 2008 (ATS, Ph, Patteson et al.)

ATS = At sea sighting
Ph = photographed
Sp = specimen
Tp = trapped & released
Tp* = trapped & released multiple times

Useful Citations:
-- Arcamone, E. et al., (1995) Comitato di Omologazione Italiano. Riv.Ital.Orn., 65:63-68.
-- Aumüller, R., Bock, C and Deutsch, M. (2005) Eine „dunkle Sturmschwalbe“ mit Merkmalen eines Swinhoewellenläufers Oceanodroma monorhis in Deutschland. http://www.club300.de/articles/003_swinhoe/index.html
-- Baxter and Scott. http://www.albaecology.co.uk/birdscot/docs/article3-4.htm
-- Bretagnolle, V., Carruthers, M., Cubitt, M., Bioret, F., and Cuillandre, J-P. (1991) Six captures of a dark-rumped, fork-tailed storm-petrel in the northern Atlantic. Ibis 133: p351-356.
-- Brinkley, ES. (1995) Dark-rumped storm-petrels in the North Atlantic. Birding 27: p95-97.
-- Cubitt, M. (1995) Swinhoe's Storm-petrels at Tynemouth: New to Britain and Ireland. British Birds 88: 342-348.
-- Garner and Mullarney (2004) A critical look at the evidence relating to 'the Chalice petrel'. British Birds 97:336 - 345.
-- Granit, B. and Smith, J.P. (2004) Another Swinhoe’s Storm-petrel Oceanodroma monorhis at Eilat. Sandgrouse 26(1): 51-52
-- Hales, S. and Vaughan, J. (2003) Dark-rumped Oceanodroma Storm-petrels in the central Atlantic Ocean. Atlantic Seabirds 5(2): 85-86.
-- James, PC., and Robertson, HA. (1985) First record of Swinhoe's Storm-petrel Oceanodroma monorhis in the Atlantic Ocean. Ardea 73: p105-106.
-- King, J. and Minguez, E. (1994) Swinhoe's Petrel: The first Mediterranean record. Birding World 7: p271-273.
-- McMinn, M. and Dietrich, P (1997) Captura de un paiño de Swinhoe Oceanodroma
monorhisen el islote de Ses Bledes, archipiélago de Cabrera. [A Swinhoe’s Storm-petrel Oceanodroma monorhiscaught on the islet of Ses Bledes, Cabrera]. l’ANUARI ORNITOLOGIC DE LES BALEARS :67
-- Morrison, S. 1998: All-dark petrels in the North Atlantic. British Birds 91: 540-560.
-- O'Brian, M. Patteson, JB., Armistead, GL., Pearce, GB. (1999) Swinhoe's Storm-petrel: First North American photographic record. North American Birds 53(1): p6-10.

Good news for the Bermuda Petrel (Cahow)

An important step in the conservation of any endangered species is to expand the breeding range beyond a single site to lessen the impact of infectious disease or natural disaster. Case in point is the Endangered Bermuda Petrel (Pterodroma cahow), which up till now only nested on some small islets in Bermuda's Castle Harbour. These sites are considered suboptimal and at significant risk of flooding or erosion. This worry was brought home by Hurricane Fabian, which washed away large sections of the islets in September 2003. After decades of work by local conservation groups led by Dr. David Wingate (Bermuda’s former Conservation Officer), the habitat on nearby Nonsuch Island (32.3472°, -64.6643°) has been restored to something resembling its original state and more recently, some 81 Bermuda Petrel chicks translocated to the island. Nonsuch lies at the eastern entrance to Castle Harbour and is a protected wildlife sanctuary with restricted access to the public. In March 2008, it was announced by Birdlife International that 3 of these transplants had returned as adults and were observed entering artificial nesting burrows. Current reintroduction work is spearheaded by Jeremy Madeiros (Bermuda’s Department of Conservation Services and head of the Cahow Recovery Program) and Nick Carlile, an Australian scientist from the NSW Department of Environment and Conservation. Carlile and Dr. David Priddel devised the very successful Gould's Petrel (Pterodroma leucoptera) recovery program on Cabbage Tree Island, near Port Stephens, NSW. The total population of Bermuda Petrel is now in excess of 250 individuals. In addition to the ever-present threat of major storms and rising sea levels, invasive mammals such as rats can find their way onto the nesting islets, potentially devastating the breeding population.

Prior to European settlement of this remote archipelago, Bermuda Petrels nested all across Bermuda but were quickly extripated by introduced pigs and other mammals. They were thought to be extinct as early as 1620 until 1951 when 18 nesting pairs were discovered in Castle Harbour. Much remains to be learned about the natural history of these gadfly petrels, for example, very little is known about their feeding grounds. One or two birds are seen annually by pelagic excursions into the Gulf Stream off North Carolina and the presumption is that the majority of Bermuda Petrels disperse north of Bermuda. The use of satellite telemetry or isotope analysis might be one way to shed light on this.