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Wilson's Storm-Petrel | Oceanites oceanicus
Wilsons stormvogeltje | Paíño de Wilson
One of the most numerous seabirds in the world, breeding on Antarctica and the subantarctic islands and moving north in huge numbers during the southern winter. In the northern summer the waters of the Arabian Sea off Oman and Yemen are among its most important feeding grounds: thousands then sometimes dance over the upwelling, food-rich water.
Voice
Almost silent at sea; sometimes a soft chattering when feeding in flocks.
Recording: Fabrice Schmitt — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
A small, blackish-brown storm-petrel with a large, bright white rump that extends well onto the undertail coverts and the sides. The wings are fairly short and broad with a straight trailing edge and a paler, grey-brown band across the upperwing. The tail is square-cut. The long legs project clearly beyond the tail in flight; at close range the yellow webs can be seen. Flies with short glides and fluttering wingbeats, and typically feeds fluttering with dangling legs, "walking" over the water with its feet.
Confusion species
European Storm-Petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus) is smaller and darker, with a white stripe on the underwing and legs that do not project beyond the tail. Leach's Storm-Petrel (Hydrobates leucorhous) has longer, more pointed, angled wings, a forked tail, a rump divided by a grey line and a bounding, tern-like flight. Band-rumped Storm Petrel (Hydrobates castro) is larger, with longer wings, a narrower white rump band and shorter legs. Swinhoe's Storm-Petrel (Hydrobates monorhis) of the Arabian Sea lacks a white rump altogether.
Habitat
Open sea, both over the continental shelf and far offshore, especially where upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich water produces abundant plankton. Readily follows ships and fishing boats and is attracted to fish offal and oily refuse.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the habitats of North Africa and the Middle East.
Range and movements
Oman: abundant non-breeding visitor from April to October in the Arabian Sea, especially off Dhofar, around Masirah and at Ras al Hadd, also in the Gulf of Oman; during the summer monsoon sometimes thousands of birds. Yemen: common in the Gulf of Aden, around Socotra and in the southern Red Sea. United Arab Emirates: regular in the Gulf of Oman off Fujairah and Kalba, rare in the Persian Gulf itself. Saudi Arabia and Egypt: in smaller numbers in the Red Sea, becoming scarcer northwards; a vagrant in the Gulf of Aqaba at Eilat. Morocco: passage migrant and summer visitor far off the Atlantic coast, from the Strait of Gibraltar to off Western Sahara, mostly in July – October. Scarce in the Mediterranean off Tunisia and Algeria. Elsewhere it breeds on Antarctica, the South Shetlands, South Georgia, Kerguelen and other subantarctic islands, and in the southern winter moves into the northern Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.
- Summer visitor (c. Apr–Sep)
- Passage (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
A pelagic trip from Mirbat or Salalah during or just after the summer monsoon, or a trip from Muscat or Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman, practically guarantees sightings. They can also be seen through a telescope from the coast of Dhofar and Ras al Hadd. For Morocco, pelagic trips from Dakhla in late summer give the best chance.
Conservation status
Globally not threatened and, with many millions of pairs, one of the most numerous birds in the world. Threatened by introduced rats and cats on some breeding islands, oil pollution and plastic ingestion; possibly also by the decline of krill in the Southern Ocean. No specific threats are known within the region.
Scientific name
Oceanites oceanicus | (Kuhl, 1820)
Kuhl described the species in 1820 as Procellaria oceanica; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Oceanites was introduced in 1840 by Keyserling & Blasius. Oceanites is Greek, Ōkeanitēs: an Oceanid, one of the sea nymphs held to be daughters of Oceanus and Tethys. oceanicus is Latin for 'of the ocean', after its life on the open sea. The specimen the first description was based on came from South Georgia.