• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
Where premium quality meets exceptional value. ZEISS Conquest HDX.

Herald Petrel - BirdForum Opus

Revision as of 17:37, 1 February 2011 by Wintibird (talk | contribs)


Stub.png This article is incomplete.
This article is missing one or more sections. You can help the BirdForum Opus by expanding it.
Stub.png


Photo by Glen Tepke
Nominate subspecies, dark morph. Atlantic southeast of Hatteras, North Carolina, USA, 25 August 2008.
Pterodroma arminjoniana

Includes: Trindade Petrel

Identification

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

Distribution

Breeds on islands near Hawaii and Brazil. Range at sea not well known, but found in Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Rare but regular on pelagic trips off the coast of North Carolina, USA.

Taxonomy

Two subspecies, considered by some authorities to be distinct species:

  • Nominate P. a. arminjoniana, also known as Trindade (often misspelled Trinidade or Trinidad) Petrel, breeds on Trindade and Martin Vaz islands off the coast of Brazil in the South Atlantic, and on Round Island near Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. The Atlantic and Indian Ocean populations may be separate subspecies.
  • The Pacific subspecies, P. a. heraldica, breeds on Raine Island in the Coral Sea; Chesterfield Island (Reefs) near New Caledonia; Tau Island in Samoa; the Marquesas Islands; and Gambier, Easter, and Henderson (Pitcairn) Islands in the South Pacific.

Henderson Petrel (P. atrata) was formerly considered conspecific.

Habitat

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

Behaviour

External Links

Back
Top