Elliot's storm petrel

Elliot's storm petrel
O. g. galapagoensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Procellariiformes
Family: Hydrobatidae
Subfamily: Oceanitinae
Genus: Oceanites
Species: O. gracilis
Binomial name
Oceanites gracilis
(Elliot, 1859)

The Elliot's storm petrel (Oceanites gracilis) is a species of seabird in the storm petrel family Hydrobatidae. The species is also known as the white-vented storm petrel.[2] There are two subspecies, O. g. gracilis, which is found in the Humboldt Current off Peru and Chile, and O. g. galapagoensis, which is found in the waters around the Galapagos Islands. It is a sooty-black storm petrel with a white rump. It has long legs which extend beyond the body in flight.

In spite of the frequent sightings of this species it is very poorly known; only one nest has ever been found. The feeding behaviour of the Galapagos subspecies is unusual amongst storm-petrels as it forages close to shore; all other storm-petrels are exclusively pelagic.

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, June 10, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.