A Pteredroma seen off the Mooloolaba on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast on November 5 was very likely a Stejneger’s Petrel, a new bird for the Australian list. See here for pictures:
http://sunshinecoastbirds.blogspot.com/.
We had encountered unusually high numbers of Mottled Petrels when the Pteredroma came in behind the boat about 40 nautical miles offshore. At first we thought it was a Gould’s Petrel on the basis of its dark brown cap contrasting with a lighter brown-greyish mantle.
Later, while examining his photographs at home, Paul Walbridge came to the conclusion the bird was a Stejneger’s Petrel. I readily agreed when I saw the images.
Note the white forehead and partial collar behind the eye; the underwing with narrow black borders, with the leading edge terminating in a short diagonal stripe at the carpal join; and the head-and-mantle colouring.
The very pale underwing rules out Black-winged, Gould’s and Collared – all of which show much more black. The head and upperparts colouration rules out Black-winged, Pycroft’s and Cook’s (all of which have paler, greyish heads that do not contrast with the mantle). While the underwing is similar, the small diagonal stripe on both Pycroft’s and Cook’s extends further than in Stejneger’s. The half-collar behind the eye is a feature not shared by Gould’s, Collared and Cook’s, although the very closely related Pycroft’s also has it. The record will be submitted to BARC.
Stejneger’s Petrel breeds off the coast of Chile. While not recorded previously in Australia, several beach-washed specimens have been found in New Zealand.
The day proved to be an amazingly successful pelagic with this bird, 50+ Mottled Petrels, Red-footed Booby and Black-bellied Storm-Petrel, among others.
Greg Roberts
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