Black Storm-Petrel
Hydrobates melania

Conservation status | Numbers probably stable. Vulnerable to introduction of predators (such as rats and cats) to nesting islands. |
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Family | Northern Storm-Petrels |
Habitat | Open sea. Favors warm ocean waters; off central California, fewer appear during years of colder water temperatures. Generally far offshore, but in southern California and Mexico, may occur regularly within a few miles of the mainland coast. Nests on rocky islands. |
Photo Gallery
Feeding Behavior
Forages mostly by hovering or fluttering low over water and taking items from surface.
Eggs
One. White, sometimes with small reddish-brown spots around larger end. Incubation probably by both sexes. Young: Probably fed by both parents.
Young
Probably fed by both parents.
Diet
Includes crustaceans, small fish. Diet poorly known. May eat many small fish at times, and has been reported feeding on larval form of the spiny lobster. May also eat small squid. Scavenges floating fat from dead animals at sea.
Nesting
Breeding behavior poorly known. Nests on islands, often in small colonies. Both members of pair may rest in nesting burrow for nearly 3 months before egg-laying. Active around colonies only at night. Adults give staccato calls while flying around colonies, changing to a musical trill when inside the nest. Nest: Site is in small opening among boulders, in crevice in cliff, or in burrow (especially abandoned burrow of Cassin's Auklet). Usually no nest built, sometimes a few bits of plant material.
Illustration © David Allen Sibley.
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Text © Kenn Kaufman, adapted from
Lives of North American Birds
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Migration
After nesting, moves north regularly as far as central California. Common on Monterey Bay in late summer and fall during years of high water temperature. Most disappear after October, wintering south to waters off Panama and northwestern South America.
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Learn moreSongs and Calls
A loud tuck-a-roo, given at nesting colonies.Learn more about this sound collection.