Storm-petrel ID, San Diego (1 Viewer)

[la_ravachol]

Apologies for blurry picture, but I wondered what people make of this storm-petrel because I’m not sure. From a whale watcher off San Diego yesterday.

 

[foresttwitcher]

Black Storm-petrel perhaps - saw one in the Santa Barbara Channel a couple of days ago. Flight style could be a clue, did it have 'deep, languid wing strokes'.

 

[la_ravachol]

That may be the most likely candidate as there were a good number of them out that day. But that may also be the reason I can't remember the flight style of this particular bird (not aided by the fact whale watching boats obviously don't slow down for birds).

I wondered if, based on this photo, we can eliminate Least Storm-petrel? The carpal bars are not at all clear on this one and maybe it's just a trick of perspective but does it look small to you?

 

[foresttwitcher]

Well, I've only ever seen that one Black and never Least, so I'm not the person to help. Also, size is very tricky to tell both from a single photo and at sea. Unfortunately, the diagnostic wedge-shaped tail of Least is not visible in this picture either.

 

[peterginsburg]

If one assumes the bird's flight at the time taken was perpendicular to the aim of the camera (in other words showing the full length of the bird) then the shortness of the tail strongly favors Least. Otherwise it is unidentifiable. Even with excellent photos some of these species/subspecies remain quite cryptic.
Peter

 

[la_ravachol]

I lightened up the photo and removed the automatic settings in the raw file which I think helps to view some details clearer. Even after brightening, the carpal bar on the upper side of its left wing is still barely visible and (hopefully I'm not on my own with this one!) is that not a wedge shaped tail behind the thin line of the right wing?

 

[Butty]

Crikey - that's not how I read it. I thought we were looking at a bird essentially side-on to us, head to right and slightly further away than tail to left, right wing raised so all we see is its underside, underbody only, and nothing of the left wing except a faint smudge behind the tail; plumage (all?-)dark, with any faint pattern potentially being photo-artefact. Nothing visible of the bird's upperside at all except maybe some of its head, and no particular shape ascribable to the tail. Other interpretations may differ...

 

[Butty]

...I guess your alternative take is that it's flying right and somewhat towards us and we're viewing from above, seeing the upperside of the left wing and the bird's back? The faintly-visible right wing is then seen edge-on and looks insanely/impossibly long 🤔

 

[Andy Adcock]

...I guess your alternative take is that it's flying right and somewhat towards us and we're viewing from above, seeing the upperside of the left wing and the bird's back? The faintly-visible right wing is then seen edge-on and looks insanely/impossibly long 🤔

That was my perception.

 

[Tiraya]

Least is not an easy bird off San Diego until you hit deeper waters, but this is the time of year they are potentially likely. PS. The bird is flying to the right slightly away, and the most visible wing is raised right wing with the underside facing us.

 

[peterginsburg]

After the tropical storm hit California recently, several Least have been seen in the state including on inland waters. I was on a whale watching trip out of San Diego Wednesday on the week this was taken and we did have a Least Storm-Petrel.

 

[qwerty5]

The bird is flying to the right slightly away, and the most visible wing is raised right wing with the underside facing us.

Yes, that's the only way I see possible really

 

[Tiraya]

After the tropical storm hit California recently, several Least have been seen in the state including on inland waters. I was on a whale watching trip out of San Diego Wednesday on the week this was taken and we did have a Least Storm-Petrel.

For a single day, and sporadically the day after. They've poofed very fast, and apparently didn't linger even near shore after that. We couldn't get any via seawatching here during that time frame.