Dark bird in Porto Vallarta, Mexico (1 Viewer)

My husband took this photo on November 10 at 11:30pm of a dark bird he saw on the cruise ship after the ship departed from Porto Vallarta, Mexico. It looked slightly injured, and shuffled a little bit and seemed to be hiding behind the wooden chair.

I was curious if anyone has a clue what type of bird this is. He said it was maybe the size of a robin or mourning dove. About 7 inches long.

The 2nd image is the same image with auto contrast applied to show the feather shapes better.

Thanks!

It is a storm-petrel, but not sure what species. Maybe Leach's?
Andy

Kratter said:

It is a storm-petrel, but not sure what species. Maybe Leach's?
Andy

Click to expand...

I agree with Andy.

Thank you Andy and Microtus! I don't know much about storm-petrels...it makes me wonder if and how they sleep at night since I read that they are pelagic birds and I wonder what this bird was doing if it wasn't injured. Maybe they like to sleep on boats at night if there happens to be one close by?

They don't like to sleep on boats, they usually return to their burrows at night during the nesting season, and sleep on the water otherwise. They do, however, get confused by the lights on boats and night and sometimes crash into them, getting stranded on boats.