They also breed in Tristan da Cunha island group (at least 5000 pairs) and
last Christmas day we had a nice present of about 75 of these bouncing along
in front of the bow of our ship on a glassy sea. They were definitely
attracted to the ship. There are lots of other breeding sites in southern
oceans but these birds may not make it across the "line" (but certainly
Wilson's S-Ps do.)

Not sure of subspecies on Tristan.

Gail Mackiernan
Colesville, MD


on 08/31/2004 10:03 PM, George M. Jett at  wrote:

> Norm, et. al.
>
> The White-faced Storm-petrel on August 28, 2004 may be 3rd Maryland State
> Record.  Life bird for me as well.  Also know as Frigate Petrel.
> <snip>
> The race we saw was likely Pleagodroma marina eadesi according to the Handbook
> of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, edited by Stanley
> Cramp.  P.m.eadesi breeds on the Cape Verde Islands, returning to the nest
> sites in November.  The other race, P.m. hypoleuca (P. marina is polytypic -
> two subspecies/races) breeds on the Selvagens (near the Canary Islands),
> returns to this location in February, and departs at the end of September.
> Both locations are off the west coast of Africa.
>
> This species seldom follows ships (Cramp), but as we know it runs away from
> them.  Like other pelagic birds, it only comes to land to breed.  It is
> reported to be susceptible to storm displacement.  Maybe some day it will show
> up in Charles County.
>
> Cool bird.
>
> George
>
>