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Peru Pelagics (1 Viewer)

rylirk

rylirk

Well-known member
United Kingdom
Hi all, a few from the Palomino Islands and adjacent waters:

1. Shearwater sp.? I assumed auk at the time, but I now realise they don't make it to the southern hemisphere...
2. Just to confirm: this is a blue-footed booby, right? As opposed to the abundant Peruvian boobies I saw many of.
3. 1cy Kelp Gull? Were nearby an adult Belcher's Gull, but the other juv. Belcher's Gulls I saw all had the yellow and red bill of the adult.
 

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First is a storm petrel, looks like Wilson's although there's a hint of a white bar to the under wing (pointer to white-vented, but no white lower belly); the booby with the guanay cormorants looks like Peruvian (pale head, dark back). The last two are Belcher's.
 
Aww damn, sure about the booby? Had a much darker head than all the others I saw, and face and feet loomed much paler blue imo
 
rylirk said:
Aww damn, sure about the booby? Had a much darker head than all the others I saw, and face and feet loomed much paler blue imo
Click to expand...

Generally blue-footed has bright blue feet. This looks like an adult so uniform pale head and dark back indicates Peruvian
 

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THE_FERN said:
First is a storm petrel, looks like Wilson's although there's a hint of a white bar to the under wing (pointer to white-vented, but no white lower belly); the booby with the guanay cormorants looks like Peruvian (pale head, dark back). The last two are Belcher's.
Click to expand...

My experience with Elliotts/White-vented from Galapagos was the the white vent was usually invisible. Are you sure you could see it if present with this image?

Niels
 
njlarsen said:
My experience with Elliotts/White-vented from Galapagos was the the white vent was usually invisible. Are you sure you could see it if present with this image?

Niels
Click to expand...

My understanding is that the white rump should be larger and more extensive if that species rather than Wilson's. So I think it's Wilson's but happy to be proved wrong.
 
njlarsen said:
if you have access to Birds of the world, check these two pages
https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/wvspet1/cur/multimedia?media=photos
https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/wispet/cur/multimedia?media=photos

I fail to see a systematic difference between the size of the white in the rump

Niels
Click to expand...

Well, two refs I've consulted say white-rumped should have a narrower rump patch (Peru guide and birds of Northern South America). I see a difference between some of the pics you point to but not all: some Wilson's have narrow rumps. This assuming they're correctly id'd there of course. Wilson's is a non-breeding visitor but present throughout the year. Both species have yellow webbed feet. White-rumped differs in the belly mark and pale underwing pattern. Since we can't really see these here, best to leave as "sp."

[Edit] should have added: plenty of Shearwaters in the southern hemisphere...
 
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Shearwaters yes, I said no auks in the southern hemisphere ;)

Regarding the storm-petrel, I have 1 more photo but its much lower quality and I doubt it helps. Something which may be more useful is the fact this bird was quite close to the mainland shore; maybe 100-200m or so. I think that the behaviour favours Elliot's?
 

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rylirk said:
Shearwaters yes, I said no auks in the southern hemisphere ;)

Regarding the storm-petrel, I have 1 more photo but its much lower quality and I doubt it helps. Something which may be more useful is the fact this bird was quite close to the mainland shore; maybe 100-200m or so. I think that the behaviour favours Elliot's?
Click to expand...

>>auk
Yes sorry misread.

Not sure about distance from shore. Nothing in the photo which changes my id of "sp.".
 
I don't think the Storm Petrel can be safely identified from these pictures, but Justin probability I'd say Elliott's. The white belly patch is indeed difficult to see in the field and to judge rump size you'd need much better pics and even then it's not always possible.
 
I think the booby is indeed a blue-foot despite the pale looking head, the plain wing coverts and lack of pale edging on the scapulars is given as a consistent feature blue-footed cf Peruvian. Peruvian also have dark red eyes and blue-foots pale eyes - the bird in the pic appears to have quite pale eyes.

I have seen blue-foots at the Palamino islands but they are very much in the minority. Note that being on the edge of range the two species can hybridise in northern Peru, so beware, see https://www.researchgate.net/public...uvian_Sula_variegate_Boobies_in_Northern_Peru

cheers, Andrew
 
My worry with the booby is I subsequently saw similar-looking boobies later in the same trip on the Ballestas islands. They too had pale eyes, relatively blue feet, grey streaky head and no dark border to the bare facial area, but I got frontal views of these specimens showing no contrast at all between head and body colour. Which I think rules out BF Booby. So I think it is definitely possible to have a Peruvian Booby that looks like this one. I will check if the scapulars are visible on the Ballestas Island specimens too when I get home from work, but seems safest to leave it as Peruvian to me. As you say, the vast VAST majority of boobies were unquestionably Peruvians. I think Masked and/or Nazca may also be possible at the site, but I saw no candidates for either.
 
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AStevenson said:
I think the booby is indeed a blue-foot despite the pale looking head, the plain wing coverts and lack of pale edging on the scapulars is given as a consistent feature blue-footed cf Peruvian. Peruvian also have dark red eyes and blue-foots pale eyes - the bird in the pic appears to have quite pale eyes.

I have seen blue-foots at the Palamino islands but they are very much in the minority. Note that being on the edge of range the two species can hybridise in northern Peru, so beware, see https://www.researchgate.net/public...uvian_Sula_variegate_Boobies_in_Northern_Peru

cheers, Andrew
Click to expand...

Urgg. I said adult. But it's actually more like this:
https://www.hbw.com/sites/default/files/styles/ibc_1k/public/ibc/p/3p8a6489_peruvian_booby_dpp_n50_8_10_p.jpg?itok=NYsltQJ9​

Note the fairly pale eyes. In the op pic I believe I can see the pale wing fringes we're looking for in Peruvian: photo quality means they're not clearer
 
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