Leach's storm petrel

Leach's storm petrel
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Procellariiformes
Family: Hydrobatidae
Genus: Hydrobates
Species:
H. leucorhous
Binomial name
Hydrobates leucorhous
(Vieillot, 1818)
Subspecies

See text

Synonyms
  • Procellaria leucorhoa Vieillot, 1818
  • Procellaria leachii Temminck, 1820
  • Procellaria atlantica Bonaparte, 1824
  • Procellaria bullockii (nomen novum for P. leachii) Fleming, 1828
  • Oceanodroma beali Emerson, 1906
  • Oceanodroma beldingi Emerson, 1906
  • Oceanodroma leucorhoa willetti (=socorroensis?) van Rossem, 1942
  • Cymochorea leucorhoa muriwai Mathews & Hallstrom, 1943

Leach's storm petrel or Leach's petrel (Hydrobates leucorhous) is a small seabird of the tubenose order. It is named after the British zoologist William Elford Leach. The scientific name is derived from Ancient Greek. Hydrobates is from hydōr "water", and batēs "walker", and leucorhous is from leukos, "white" and orrhos, "rump".[2] It was formerly defined in the genus Oceanodroma before that genus was synonymized with Hydrobates.[3]

It breeds on inaccessible islands in the colder northern areas of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It nests in colonies close to the sea in well concealed areas such as rock crevices, shallow burrows, or even logs. It lays a single white egg, which often has a faint ring of purple spots at the large end. This storm petrel is strictly nocturnal at the breeding sites to avoid predation by gulls and skuas, and even avoids coming to land on clear, moonlit nights. The largest colony of Leach's storm petrels can be found on Baccalieu Island off eastern Canada, an ecological reserve with ~1.95 million pairs of the birds at last estimate in 2013.[4]

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2018). "Hydrobates leucorhous". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T132438298A132438484. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T132438298A132438484.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 225, 279. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  3. ^ "Taxonomic Updates – IOC World Bird List". Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  4. ^ WILHELM, S., HEDD, A., ROBERTSON, G., MAILHIOT, J., REGULAR, P., RYAN, P., & ELLIOT, R. (2020). The world’s largest breeding colony of Leach’s Storm-petrel Hydrobates leucorhous has declined. Bird Conservation International, 30(1), 40-57. doi:10.1017/S0959270919000248