Storm Petrel

storm petrel, any member of about 20 species of seabirds constituting the family Hydrobatidae, or sometimes considered as Oceanitidae (order Procellariiformes). Ranging in length from about 13 to 25 centimetres (5 ¹/₂ to 10 inches), all are dark gray or brown, sometimes lighter below, and often with a white rump. The wings are shorter than those of most other procellariiforms and are rounded at the tips; the bill is of medium length; the nostril tubes (common to all members of the order) are united on the upper surface of the bill; the toes are webbed, except for the hind toe, which is small and elevated; the tail is medium to long and square, forked, or wedge shaped.

Storm petrels fall into two behavioral and structural groups. Most of the species breeding in the southern oceans are shorter winged, square tailed, long legged, and short toed. With wings spread, they patter over the water, “walking,” and pick up minute marine organisms. An example is Wilson’s petrel (Oceanites oceanicus), which breeds on islets along the Antarctic continent and near the Antarctic Circle and winters in the North Atlantic from about June to September.

Most of the northern species have longer wings, forked or wedge-shaped tails, shorter legs, and longer toes; when foraging, they swoop over the water like tiny terns, occasionally alighting on the surface. Leach’s petrel (Oceanodroma leucorhoa), for example, breeds on islands in the North Atlantic and south to about 28° N in the Pacific. Several other Oceanodroma species occur in the North Pacific. The British storm petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus) breeds on islands and cliffs along the coasts of Europe.

Storm petrels are colonial breeders, nesting in burrows they dug in soft soil or in crevices in rocks. They breed on islands along the coasts of North and South America, in the eastern and southern Atlantic, and throughout the Pacific. A single whitish egg is incubated by both parents, which come and go by night and so are rarely seen by man and other potential predators. Like many exclusively nocturnal birds, petrels are highly vocal at the colony. Like most other procellariiform young, the chicks are deserted by their parents a week or more before they are fully fledged. While the parents molt at sea, the young complete their growth and leave the burrow to feed themselves at sea.