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| Seabirds | Storm-petrels | White-faced Storm-petrel | Search | Comments | Site Map |
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White-faced Storm-petrel |
Awesome photo by Jeremiah Trimble on September 2009 BBC shelf edge pelagic. Two Storm-petrels in New England waters have yellow webs between their toes: White-faced and Wilson's Storm-petrel. A third Storm-petrel with yellow webs Elliott's is found only in the Pacific.
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Distribution
Found in all three oceans. Breeds in
North Atlantic on the Salvages,
Cape Verde, and perhaps on the Canary Islands. In the
South Atlantic on Tristan da Cunha, and Gough Island. Also in
the Indian Ocean and off Australia, Victoria, New
Zealand.
Subspecies
There are six subspecies.
The two most likely to be in our area are the North Atlantic
breeding subspecies.
How to See
This is a very
difficult bird to add to your North American list. Your best chance for seeing
this bird in North America is to take an east coast continental shelf edge trip to Hydrographers, Oceanographers or Gilbert's Canyons in late August. The secret
is to get into one of the core's of Gulf Stream Water that drift over the
continental shelf edge area. See
The Continental Shelf-Edge
: An
Oceanographic Primer for Pelagic Birders by Mike Gooley
on this web page
Brian Patterson in a 2000 article in Winging
It (19 ) suggests
that birders take overnight tuna fishing trips and the captain of the Yankee
Capts who runs such trips tells me that he sees the bird almost
every summer.
History of Sightings
1983 joint BBC and Bird Observer trip to Hydrographer's
Canyon
1994 June CORE 3 day trip to Hydrographer's Canyon. Trip
primarily for Cetaceans
2001 BBC Hydrographer's Canyon
from Plymouth, MA 2 birds
2001 September FONT trip out of
Barnegat Light New Jersey
2006 BBC Continental shelf edge on
HelenH out of Hyannis Port 3 birds
2009 BBC Two
day Continental shelf edge on Helen H out of Hyannis Port 6
birds ( following 2 Hurricanes)
This bird is never a sure thing. It has been missed on
about 50% of trips to the same area. For more details on
sightings see the individual trip reports on this web page.
Behavior
Reported to sometimes follow fishing boats. Neither of the two birds seen in 2001 or the three
birds seen in 2006 responded to
chum. The page author also saw this bird off the coast of
Australia where the birds clearly favored a slick laid by the
boat.
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Dave Larson photographed this White-faced Storm-petrel on the 2006 BBC trip to the continental shelf edge. Thanks for sharing. Notice the long bill and long legs. |
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Bouncing Feeding Flight One of the most noticeable characteristics of this bird is the way it bounces off the water while feeding. Often described as riding a pogo stick, the bird touches the water and then bounds up, only to hit the water again like a bouncing basketball. This flight will separate it from a large flock of other Storm-petrels even at a distance. This photo taken by Steve Mirick on the BBC August, 2001 Hydrographers Canyon trip captures the bouncing flight. Photo remains the property of the photographer. Great job Steve! Thanks for sharing with us. |
| Identification Hard to find, easy to identify. At first sight most likely to be confused with phalaropes. Phalaropes are rarely seen alone while all the White-faced Storm-petrels have been single birds. Its bouncing flight over the water is most distinct. Distinctive white face and white underparts. Has light or white rump. Also yellow webs between toes not usually observed at sea, but perhaps visible in this Steve Mirick photograph and definitely visible in Jeremiah Trimble's photo at the top of the page. |
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 Steve Mirick photo of the August 2001 bird. |
Steve Mirick 2001 |
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Steve Mirick photo 2006. This picture clearly shows the light colored webs between toes. |
Steve Mirick 2006. Notice the long legs. One of three birds seen on August 2006 trip. |
| Long Legs This and the following photograph were taken by Mary Scott on the FONT trip on September, 2001 from Barnegat Light, NJ. Both show the long legs trailing far behind the tail. |
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.Photos by Mary Scott and used with her permission. For more examples of her photography displayed in story form see http://www.birdingamerica.com. |
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