Nominate subspecies, dark morph. Atlantic southeast of Hatteras, North Carolina, USA, 25 August 2008.
- Pterodroma arminjoniana
Includes: Trindade Petrel
Identification
35-39 cm in size, with a 88-102 cm wingspan.
Distribution
Breeds on islands near Hawaii and Brazil. Range at sea not well known, but found in Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Rare but regular on pelagic trips off the coast of North Carolina, USA.
A special problem are birds breeding on Round Island in the Indian Ocean: these are constituted of bird arisen through resent settlement on the island and seems to be hybrid mixes with ancestry from both of the taxa contained here and from the Kermadec Petrel.
Taxonomy
Two subspecies, considered by some authorities to be distinct species[1]:
- Nominate P. a. arminjoniana, also known as Trindade (often misspelled Trinidade or Trinidad) Petrel, breeds on Trindade and Martin Vaz islands off the coast of Brazil in the South Atlantic, and on Round Island near Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. The Atlantic and Indian Ocean populations may be separate subspecies.
- The Pacific subspecies, P. a. heraldica, breeds on Raine Island in the Coral Sea; Chesterfield Island (Reefs) near New Caledonia; Tau Island in Samoa; the Marquesas Islands; and Gambier, Easter, and Henderson (Pitcairn) Islands in the South Pacific.
Henderson Petrel (P. atrata) was formerly considered conspecific.
Habitat
Pelagic, nesting on cliff ledges, ridges or rocky slopes on oceanic islands, atolls.
Behaviour
Nesting happens on surface as opposed to in burrows, and visits to the nest takes place in the afternoon into evening rather than at night only
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, B.L. Sullivan, C. L. Wood, and D. Roberson. 2012. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to October 2012. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
- SACC proposal to split into two species which also contains behavior notes
