Band-rumped/ Madeiran Storm-petrel

[William Bourne]

As far as I can remember the report by John Brodie-Good in Seabird-news 1873 of seven Band-rumped Storm-petrels off the west coast of New Caledonia on 3-4 April extends the known range of these birds by thousands of kilometres. It is not a great surprise as their distribution seems very wide at sea, though only a limited number of breeding places are known , and this seems a candidate for another, or they could be migrants from somewhere like Japan. The situation is further complicated by the declaration of Sanger et al that there are at least three species of this form in the Atlantic and "studies of vocalizations and phylogeography suggest there are multiple lineages outside the Western Palearctic which should be treated as species" (Ibis 154: 876-877). It seems doubtful whether any useful purpose is served by describing a  growing number of birds indistinguishabe at sea as separate species, but it would be useful if birds come on board people could save any bodies or stray feathers and take photographs.

 

Bill Bourne

[Gail B. Mackiernan %3Ckatahdinss%40comcast.net%3E]

In 2008, we (myself, Barry Cooper and Peter Clement) had a party of 10 Madeiran (Band-rumped) Storm-petrels about 270 miles north of Guadalcanal and about 300 miles south of the equator. At the time we could find no other reports of this species in the SW Pacific, but since 2008 the WPO has recorded it a number of times. At the time we speculated on origin, having seen this species in 2007 off Japan. We were on a commercial cruise ship, m/s Statendam, that was running a "one-off" cruise to islands playing a role in the Pacific theatre during WW II. I should add that we had obtained a great deal of helpful advice from Chris Collins re contacts on various islands, which greatly enhanced the voyage.

(This sighting is included in our trip report: "Western Pacific Cruise: New Zealand to Japan" which can be viewed on the Surfbirds web site at: www.surfbirds.com/trip_report.php?id=2136).

Gail Mackiernan

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From: "William Bourne" <wrpbo...@yahoo.co.uk>
To: seabir...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Sunday, April 14, 2013 10:48:48 AM
Subject: [Seabird-News:1875] Band-rumped/ Madeiran Storm-petrel