Ashy Storm-petrel
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
| Ashy Storm-petrel Conservation status: Endangered | ||||||||||||||
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| Oceanodroma homochroa (Coues, 1864) |
The Ashy Storm-petrel (Oceanodroma homochroa) is a small, scarce seabird of the storm-petrel family Hydrobatidae. Both its common and scientific name come from its colouration, one authority has suggested naming it Coues's Storm Petrel after the man that described the species, Elliott Coues.
Description
This is a small, uniformly sooty-brown storm petrel with a forked tail, closely resembling the Black Storm-petrel, however it is smaller and has a more fluttering style of flight. It is a gregarious bird at sea, feeding nocturnally on cephalopods, fish and crustaceans. It 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 (although timing varies greatly).
Distribution and Status
Ashy Storm-petrel 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. Outside of the breeding season it is believed to be more widely distributed, foraging on the California Current. The world population is estimated to be around 10,000 birds, 8,000 of them breeders, the Farallon population having declined by one third between 1972 and 1992. The species is considered has recently been listed as endangered and is a species of conservation concern in California. It is threatened by Western Gull and Burrowing Owl predation, illumination from fishing boats, and pollution.
