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Swinhoe's Storm Petrel - BirdForum Opus

Photo by SeeToh
Straits of Singapore, May 2015
Hydrobates monorhis

Oceanodroma monorhis

Identification

18–20 cm (7-7¾ in)

  • Dark brownish
  • Small head
  • Notched tail

Distribution

Photo by SeeToh
Straits of Singapore, October 2017

They breed on islands in the northwest Pacific off China, Japan and Korea. They spend the rest of the year at sea, ranging into the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea, and as a rare guest into the Atlantic where photographed off Hatteras, North Carolina[2].

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species1.

Habitat

Coastal waters, where they breed on off shore islands and open seas.

Behaviour

Breeding

Photo by James Eaton
Seram, Indonesia

They nest in loose colonies close to the sea in rock crevices and burrows. They lay a single white egg.

Diet

They take plankton from the ocean surface. They 'dip' for the feed, rather than paddle.

References

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  2. 51st supplement to the AOU checklist of North American birds
  3. Carboneras, C., F. Jutglar, E. de Juana, and G. M. Kirwan (2021). Swinhoe's Storm-Petrel (Hydrobates monorhis), version 1.1. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.swspet.01.1

Recommended Citation

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