British Storm-Petrel

Status One record. On the evening of 10 August 1970 a strange storm-petrel was trapped in a mist net employed for banding shorebirds on Sable Island (McNeil and Burton 1971). The specimen was subsequently presented to the National Museum of Canada; it was the first authenticated record of the species for North America.

Remarks Length: 14-19 cm. This is a small storm-petrel with a square tail and a weak, fluttering flight interspersed with short glides. It is sooty black or brown, with a white rump. The small patch of white feathers at the base of the underwing is a diagnostic field mark. It breeds in the eastern North Atlantic from Iceland to Spain and the Mediterranean and winters off South Africa. There have been one or two supposed sightings of the species from the MV Bluenose between Yarmouth and Maine, but the details are not wholly satisfactory.