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| Guadelupe Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma macrodactyla) |
| syn. Oceanodroma leucorhoa macrodactyla |
| distribution: Mexico: Isla Guadalupe |
| native name: Paino - Mexico Petrel de Guadalupe - Mexico |
| size:
23 cm (length) extinction date: last sighting in 1912 |
| This seabird once bred
exclusively in the pine- resp. cypress forests of the 280 km²
large island of Guadalupe. Almost the entire vegetation of this island was destroyed by introduced goats, hence the habitat of many native birds was lost. Storm-Petrels are very good flyers, which search their food while flying along the oceans surface. They need to breed on land, where they are very clumsy. They breed in self-dug burrows, in which they also spend their time during the day, they search for food almost always at night. As long as they keep on the forest floor they are, caused by their clumsiness, very vulnerable to predation by introduced feral cats. |
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above: Guadeloupe Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma macrodactyla) depiction by John Gerrard Keulemans from 'Monograph of the Petrels' by Frederick Godman from the year 1907 Photo: by courtesy of Barbara Ward Grubb / Triptych Collections http://triptych.brynmawr.edu/index.php |
| References: - Dieter Luther: 'Die ausgestorbenen Vögel der Welt' (1986) - Errol Fuller: 'Extinct Birds' (1987) |