Trindade Petrel - BirdForum Opus

Dark morph
Photo by Glen Tepke
Atlantic southeast of Hatteras, North Carolina, USA, 25 August 2008.

Pterodroma arminjoniana

Identification

35-39 cm in size, with a 88-102 cm wingspan.

Distribution

Breeds on Trindade and Martin Vaz islands off the coast of Brazil in the South Atlantic, and on Round Island near Mauritius Island in the Indian Ocean. Rare but regular on pelagic trips off the coast of North Carolina, USA.
A special problem are birds breeding on Round Island in the Indian Ocean: these are constituted of bird arisen through resent settlement on the island and seems to be hybrid mixes with ancestry from both of the taxa contained here and from the Kermadec Petrel.

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species. The Atlantic and Indian Ocean populations may be separate subspecies.
Formerly considered conspecific with Herald Petrel and Henderson Petrel under the name Herald Petrel, Pterodroma arminjoniana.

Habitat

Pelagic, nesting on cliff ledges, ridges or rocky slopes on oceanic islands, atolls.

Behaviour

Nesting happens on surface as opposed to in burrows, and visits to the nest takes place in the afternoon into evening rather than at night only

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2014. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9., with updates to August 2014. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2014. IOC World Bird Names (version 4.3). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
3. SACC proposal to split into two species which also contains behavior notes

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Trindade Petrel. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 15 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Trindade_Petrel

External Links

Search for photos of Trindade Petrel in the gallery