Search

SummaryPelagic seabird populations have declined strongly worldwide. In the North Atlantic there was a huge reduction in seabird populations following the European colonization of the Azores, Madeira and Canary archipelagos but information on seabird status and distribution for the subtropical region of Cabo Verde is scarce, unavailable or dispersed in grey literature. We compiled and compared the historical and current distribution of all seabird species breeding in the Cabo Verde archipelago, updated their relative abundance, investigated their inland habitat preferences, and reviewed their threats. Currently, the breeding seabird community in Cabo Verde is composed of Bulwer’s Petrel Bulweria bulwerii, White-faced Storm-petrel Pelagodroma marina aedesorum, Cape Verde Shearwater Calonectris edwardsii, Cape Verde Storm-petrel Hydrobates jabejabe, Cape Verde Petrel Pterodroma feae, Boyd's Shearwater Puffinus lherminieri boydi, Brown Booby Sula leucogaster, and Red-billed Tropicbird Phaethon aethereus. One breeding species is currently extinct, the Magnificent Frigatebird Fregata magnificens. The relative abundance of Cape Verde Shearwater, Boyd’s Shearwater, Cape Verde Petrel, and Cape Verde Storm-petrel was determined from counts of their nocturnal calls in Santo Antão, São Vicente, Santa Luzia, Branco, Raso and São Nicolau. Cape Verde Petrel occurred only on mountainous islands (Santo Antão, São Nicolau, Santiago, and Fogo) from mid-to high elevations. Larger species such as the Cape Verde Shearwater and Boyd’s Shearwater exhibited a wider distribution in the archipelago, occurring close to the coastline but at lower densities on populated islands. Small procellariforms such as the Cape Verde Storm-petrel occurred at high densities only on rat-free islets and in steep areas of main islands where introduced cats and rats are unlikely to occur. The main threats to seabird populations in Cabo Verde range from predation by introduced predators, habitat alteration or destruction, and some residual human persecution.

A unique and rare event of consumption of a seabird (aviphagy) was recorded for a Southern Ocean squid in Australian waters. Petrel remains were identified in the stomach contents of a large (518 mm Mantle Length, 3.4 kg) female ommastrephid squid, Todarodes filippovae (Adam 1975) captured off the southern coast of Tasmania, Australia. The remains were identified as to being from either a fairy prion Pachyptila turtur or white-faced storm petrel Pelagodroma marina. This unique observation expands the evidence for aviphagy recorded in other cephalopods to now include squid.

Pelagodroma marina (Latham, 1790) White-faced storm petrel���Golondrina de mar de cara blanca Halipeurus pelagodromae Palma, 2011, Published as part of Gonza �� Lez-Acun, Daniel A. & Palma, Ricardo L., 2021, An annotated catalogue of bird lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) from Chile, pp. 1-151 in Zootaxa 5077 (1) on page 120, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5077.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5766642, {"references":["Palma, R. L. (2011) New taxa, new synonymies and new host records in the louse genus Halipeurus (Insecta: Phthiraptera: Philopteridae) parasitic on petrels (Aves: Procellariiformes). Zootaxa, 3017 (1), 1 - 45. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 3017.1.1"]}

Islands worldwide have sufered seabird extinctions after the arrival of humans and the alien species they introduced. On Santa Luzia (Cabo Verde), an uninhabited island of 35 km2 ,the presence of an impressive quantity of petrel bones in coastal dunes suggested the previous existence of an important seabird colony. Yet, these remains had not been identifed and no seabird extinctions have been reported for the island. This paper characterizes the extinct seabird colony of Santa Luzia and discusses the chronology and possible causes of its demise. A total of 130 grid points in a 5 km2 area and 38 supplementary points within and outside the main study area were excavated to collect bone remains. A total of 1318 anatomical elements, identifed as White-faced Storm Petrel Pelagodroma marina eadesorum (85.3% of the minimum number of individuals, MNI), Boyd’s Shearwater Pufnus lherminieri boydi (11.8% MNI) and Cape Verde Storm Petrel Hydrobates jabejabe (2.9% MNI), were found in 18% of the sampling points, within 1.25 km2 . Neither of the two former species currently breeds on Santa Luzia. In addition, two bones of the Cape Verde Shearwater Calonectris edwardsii and Pterodroma sp. were detected in the supplementary points. Radiocarbon dating of White-faced Storm Petrel (n=10) and Boyd’s Shearwater bones (n=13) suggests that the colony probably went extinct during the frst half of the twentieth century. The recent extinction of these species on Santa Luzia might be consequent on the arrival of humans and their domestic animals on the island. We estimate that the extinct seabird populations must have been at least hundreds of thousand strong, far larger than current populations of the same species in Cabo Verde. We suggest that, following feral cat eradication, Santa Luzia has a signifcant potential for seabird restoration Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - FCT info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Bird plumage and skin colour can be assessed from museum specimens. To determine whether these accurately represent the colours of live birds when viewed by birds themselves, we analysed the spectral reflectances of live and up to 100-year-old museum specimens of five seabirds species (White-faced Petrel Pelagodroma marina, Common Diving Petrel Pelecanoides urinatrix, Grey-faced Petrel Pterodroma gouldi, Little Shearwater Puffinus assimilis and Fluttering Shearwater Puffinus gavia). Live birds had brighter colours than museum specimens, but there were no significant differences in the wavelengths reflected. Modelling indicated that seabirds would be able to detect colour changes in the skin, but not the feathers, of museum specimens, but only for species with blue or pink feet (Pelecanoides urinatrix and Puffinis assimilis). For seabirds, museum specimens are adequate proxies for feather colour but not for skin colour. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Marine plastic pollution is rapidly growing and is a source of major concern. Seabirds often ingest plastic debris and are increasingly used as biological monitors of plastic pollution. However, virtually no studies have assessed plastics in seabirds in the deep subtropical North Atlantic. We investigated whether remains of white-faced storm-petrels (WFSP) present in gull pellets could be used for biomonitoring. We analysed 263 pellets and 79.0% of these contained plastic debris originating in the digestive tract of WFSP. Pellets with no bird prey did not contain plastics. Most debris were fragments (83.6%) with fewer plastic pellets (8.2%). Light-coloured plastics predominated (71.0%) and the most frequent polymer was HDPE (73.0%). Stable isotopes in toe-nails of WFSP containing many versus no plastics did not differ, indicating no individual specialisation leading to differential plastic ingestion. We suggest WFSP in pellets are highly suitable to monitor the little known pelagic subtropical Northeast Atlantic. Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)

The main impact of the fishery for Tristan rock lobster Jasus tristani on seabirds at the Tristan archipelago and Gough Island is through night strikes, when petrels collide with a ship after being disorientated by its lights. Tristan fishery observers have kept records of night strikes on the MV Edinburgh since the 2010/2011 fishing season. Over the last three years, 723 seabirds from nine species were recorded coming aboard the fishing vessel, with at least 39 (5.4%) birds dying as a result. Birds killed were broad-billed prions Pachyptila vittata (41%), common diving petrels Pelecanoides urinatrix (23%), and storm petrels (Pelagodroma marina and Fregetta grallaria/tropica 36%). All these species are listed as Least Concern globally, and the numbers killed per year are

Tristan Thrushes or Starchies Nesocichla eremita are known to feed on seabird eggs. We show they are able to open the eggs of birds as large as small albatrosses. Starchies were involved in almost half of all egg losses by Great Shearwaters Puffinus gravis during the early incubation period in a small study colony at Inaccessible Island, South Atlantic Ocean. They also enter burrows to remove and kill petrel chicks up to at least 70 g. Starchies are thus potentially significant predators of seabird eggs and chicks, and may select against egg neglect and early cessation of brooding by burrowing petrels at the Tristan islands. Starchies previously were recorded killing adult White-bellied Storm Petrels Fregetta grallaria at Inaccessible Island. This behaviour now includes White-faced Storm Petrels Pelagodroma marina. It is likely that the Starchies hunt adult storm petrels directly, taking them from their burrows.

SUMMARY In this paper the bird bones collected in three separate localities on St. Helena during the British Ornithologists' Union Centenary Expedition to Ascension Island are catalogued and described. At Prosperous Bay there are deposits which appear to be only a few hundred years old, containing many intact bird bones, referable to Puffinus assimilis/lherminieri, Pelagodroma marina, Sula sula, Fregata ariel, and a new rail Aphanocrex podarces. In Dry Gut, north of Bencoolen, are apparently older deposits with bones of a medium-sized Pterodroma sp. and a humerus of Upupa epops. On Sugar Loaf Hill are extensive deposits which may be very old, containing fragmentary bones of a large Puffinus sp., of Puffinus assimilis/lherminieri, Pelagodroma marina, and at least one species of columbid. There is now evidence that thirteen species of oceanic birds have bred on St. Helena at some time (plus one—Sula leucogaster—whose status is still uncertain). Of these, only six species are now known to breed on the island, though two more may do so. The only surviving native land-bird is Charadrius sanctae-helenae, but at least three additional species were present in the past.

The White-faced Storm Petrel (Pelagodroma marina) is restricted to three breeding colonies within Victoria: Mud Islands and South Channel Fort in Port Phillip Bay, and Tullaberga Island off Mallacoota. Numbers of these storm petrels breeding on Mud Islands have declined considerably since early last century. White-faced Storm Petrels were recorded on Mud Islands from early September 2002 until mid-March 2003 when the last chicks fledged. Eggs were laid from late October to early December, with chicks hatching in the later half of December. The mean incubation period was 51.7 days (± 3.2 days (s.d.), range = 38–53, n = 13), and may have been extended by periods of egg neglect. The mean nestling period was 54.8 days (± 4.4 days (s.d.), range 50–70, n = 21). Chick growth is described. Hatching success was 54% and fledging success was 77.8%, with overall breeding success being 42%. Burrow densities were found to be influenced by plant species, vegetation height and soil moisture. The position of the burrow within the colony was shown to influence breeding success, with those nearer the edge of the storm petrel colony, closer to the marsh, and further from a colony of Australian White (Threskiornis molucca) and Straw-necked (T. spinicollis) Ibis recording higher success.

Analytical methods that apply coalescent theory to multilocus data have improved infer-ences of demographic parameters that are critical to understanding population divergenceand speciation. In particular, at the early stages of speciation, it is important to implementmodels that accommodate conflicting gene trees, and benefit from the presence of sharedpolymorphisms. Here, we employ eleven nuclear loci and the mitochondrial control regionto investigate the phylogeography and historical demography of the pelagic seabirdWhite-faced Storm-petrel (Pelagodroma marina)bysamplingsubspeciesacrossitsanti-tropical distribution. Groups are all highly differentiated: global mitochondrial ΦST= 0.89(P < 0.01) and global nuclear ΦSTvaries between 0.22 and 0.83 (all P < 0.01). The completelineage sorting of the mitochondrial locus between hemispheres is corroborated by approx-imately half of the nuclear genealogies, suggesting a long-term antitropical divergence inisolation. Coalescent-based estimates of demographic parameters suggest that hemisphericdivergence of P. marina occurred approximately 840 000 ya (95% HPD 582 000–1 170 000),in the absence of gene flow, and divergence within the Southern Hemisphere occurred190000ya(95%HPD96000–600 000), both probably associated with the profound palaeo-oceanographic changes of the Pleistocene. A fledgling sampled in St Helena (tropicalSouth Atlantic) suggests recent colonization from the Northern Hemisphere. Despite thegreat potential for long-distance dispersal, P. marina antitropical groups have beenevolving as independent, allopatric lineages, and divergence is probably maintained byphilopatry coupled with asynchronous reproductive phenology and local adaptation. Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT)

I compare plastic ingested by five species of seabirds sampled in the 1980s and again in 1999-2006. The numbers of ingested plastic particles have not changed significantly, but the proportion of virgin pellets has decreased 44-79% in all five species: great shearwater Puffinus gravis, white-chinned petrel Procellaria aequinoctialis, broad-billed prion Pachyptila vittata, white-faced storm petrel Pelagodroma marina and white-bellied storm petrel Fregetta grallaria. The populations sampled range widely in the South Atlantic and western Indian Oceans. The most marked reduction occurred in great shearwaters, where the average number of pellets per bird decreased from 10.5 to 1.6. This species migrates between the South and North Atlantic each year. Similar decreases in virgin pellets have been recorded in short-tailed shearwaters Puffinus tenuirostris in the Pacific Ocean and northern fulmars Fulmarus glacialis in the North Sea. More data are needed on the relationship between plastic loads in seabirds and the density of plastic at sea in their foraging areas, but the consistent decrease in pellets in birds suggests there has been a global change in the composition of small plastic debris at sea over the last two decades.

Correlations between lunar phase and behaviour have been studied in five different species of petrels (Cory's Shearwater, Calonectris diomedea; Little Shearwater, Puffinus assimilis; Bulwer's Petrel, Bulweria bulwerii; White-faced Storm Petrel, Pelagodroma marina; and Madeiran Storm Petrel, Oceanodroma castro) during 20 nights. Quantitative data on the activity of birds (number of calls per time unit, proportion of nests visited, and number of birds in flight by night), relatively to their breeding status and the phase of the moon, suggest that moonlight may affect primarily the activity of the nonbreeders, especially in the smaller species. The results are compared with those for other species of petrels and possible causes of moon avoidance, such as increased predation risk, are discussed.

The White-faced Storm-petrel (Pelagodroma marina) breeds on several tropical, sub-tropical and temperate islands in both hemispheres, but some aspects of its breeding biology are still poorly known. The European subspecies hypoleuca is almost confined to a small archipelago, the Salvage Islands, about 300 km south of Madeira Island, North-east Atlantic. Because of its very localized distribution, this subspecies is relatively vulnerable to extinction and its population dynamics need to be understood and monitored. We studied the breeding biology of the White-faced Storm-petrel at Selvagem Grande Island in 1996. Birds first arrived at the colony in mid-December, eggs were laid from mid-March to early June, and the last chicks fledged in mid-August. Mean incubation period was 53.7 days, but was highly variable due to frequent egg-neglect that affected at least two thirds of the clutches. Mean nestling period was 60.3 days. Chick growth (body mass and wing length) is described. Hatching success was 60.7% (N = 89) and fledging success was 88.9% (N = 54). Breeding success (53.9%) was not low, in spite of frequent predation by house mice (Mus musculus), the main cause of nesting failures. Rabbits (Oryctolagus cunniculus) and Yellow-legged Gulls (Larus cachinnans), two species thought to pose threats to other seabirds of the region, had no measurable negative effect on breeding performance at our study nests. However, we had some evidence that gulls prey upon chicks and adult birds. Breeding success did not correlate with egg size. There was a highly significant seasonal decline in both hatching and fledging success. Using data on burrow density and occupancy obtained in the main colony, we estimated the breeding population on Selvagem Grande at around 36,000 pairs. Received 30 November 1988, accepted 16January 1999.

Summary Metacercaria of Distomum filiferum is described as being the organism responsible for the death of considerable numbers of Pelagodroma marina on the Chatham Islands. It is suggested that the release of the metacercaria of D. filiferum from its host Nematocelis megalops is actuated by the diurnal descent of the host.