White-faced Storm-petrel Pelagodroma marina

Photo by Steve Mirick   2001All photographs on this page remain the property of the photographer.

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 from New England is to take a 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.

The bird was seen on a 1983 joint BBC and Bird Observer trip to Hydrographer's Canyon and again in June of 1994 on a CORE trip to the same area. It was seen on the 2001 BBC Hydrographer's Canyon trip and again in 2006. It was also seen in September 2001 on a FONT trip out of Barnegat Light, NJ.

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. See boat description.

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. Patteres on the water.
 

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.

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.

Characteristics Not a hard bird to identify. Most likely to be confused with phalaropes. 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.

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.

.Photos by Mary Scott and used with her permission. For more examples of her photography displayed in story form see http://www.birdingamerica.com.