Soft-plumaged Petrel Norway

[Johnny X]

This is staggering!

http://pewit.blogspot.com/2009/07/soft-plumaged-petrel-varanger-find-of.html

Top, top work by the photographer to get such images given the nature of the sighting!

[Alex Lees]

This is staggering!

http://pewit.blogspot.com/2009/07/soft-plumaged-petrel-varanger-find-of.html

Top, top work by the photographer to get such images given the nature of the sighting!

Find of a lifetime indeed, its nice to see the rest of the pics; clean grey crown (same tone as mantle and neck), tail concolorous with upperparts, and a small bill all add up to mollis.

Certainly changes a few goalposts and poses a few questions. This extract culled from Steele (2006):

Although Soft-plumaged Petrel can show a slightly paler tail and incomplete breast-band, the tail contrast is generally poorly marked, and there is usually a significant breast-band. In other words, while the identification criteria need to be interpreted with caution on any individual bird, there is a ‘normal’ pattern emerging. If any of the well-seen British birds were not typical of one of the two northern species, we might expect to see some discrepancies creeping in – for example, the tail contrast not being noted, even when the breast was thought to be clear, or vice versa. What we actually have is a series of descriptions, virtually all of which specifically mention both (i) clean white underparts and (ii) a long, tapered, pale grey tail. In the exceptional cases where these features are not described, there is usually a perfectly good reason why they have not been. On the basis of the records reviewed here, there is so little variation among the descriptions that Soft-plumaged Petrel can be effectively ruled out as a possibility. There is nothing to suggest that Soft-plumaged Petrel has been seen in British waters.

So what do we know about mollis superpecies petrels with breastbands? Lee (1995) (http://www.carolinabirdclub.org/chat/issues/1995/v59n4marine_birds.pdf) states that:

For example a male specimen of P. feae (USNM 536445) from the Cape Verde Islands has a distinct breast band that is nearly complete. While the area where the two bars extend into the breast do not come in contact, this could have been overlooked on the bird I saw. In the photograph (Anon 1992, Am Birds 46:1130) from 24 May 1992, however, the bird does appear to have a complete breast band.

and this from Patterson & Brinkley (2004) (http://www.aba.org/birding/v36n6p586.pdf)

In studying the specimen collection at the Smithsonian, we located one specimen of Fea’s Petrel that showed heavy barring near the base of the wings—a bird taken at the breeding grounds in the Cape Verde Islands and thus a nominate feae (Figs. 9 & 10). Hazevoet (1995) describes some specimens of nominate feae as being heavily marked and mottled on sides and flanks, which is rarely the case with deserta, as far as we can discern from specimens and the published record. An exception could be a specimen taken near “Ilheo do Cal” (presumably Ilhéu Chão), off Madeira, currently in the Royal Scottish Museum, and said to have “fine streaking of all the underparts” (Bourne 1957). Thus, nominate feae in some cases would be more difficult to distinguish from mollis than from deserta.

I seem to remember some reports from Madeira of Pterodromas with complete breast bands? Can't trace the report though.... one final thought... I guess most folk have seen these photos (http://www.patteson.com/a_fifth_pterodroma_for_hatteras_.htm)? Good to compare with the in-hand image in Patterson & Brinkley (2004) (http://www.aba.org/birding/v36n6p586.pdf)

[Brian S]

Some great photos here. The first set showing bill structure (and, perhaps, slightly lighter crown in madeirae) http://madeira.seawatching.net/galleries/Petrels/index.html

The next set show feae in flight, some with extensive breast-side marking, which almost complete the breast band
http://madeira.seawatching.net/species/Pte_fea/index.html

Brian S

[Alex Lees]

Some great photos here. The first set showing bill structure (and, perhaps, slightly lighter crown in madeirae) http://madeira.seawatching.net/galleries/Petrels/index.html

The next set show feae in flight, some with extensive breast-side marking, which almost complete the breast band
http://madeira.seawatching.net/species/Pte_fea/index.html

Brian S

Anyone know of any good photos of presumed nominate feae on the net, apart from the ones here (http://www.surfbirds.com/trip_report.php?id=795).

[Alex Lees]

Some discussion of this record has occurred here (http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/SEAB.html#1248083728).

e.g.

Subject: Varanger petrel
From: William Bourne <wrpbourne AT yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:55:21 +0000 (GMT)

The gadfly petrel photographed by Graham Catley in Varanger fjord on 6 June reported by Angus Wilson and in Birding World�22: 749-752 raises a number of questions. First, what is it doing there? Has it come up the North Atlantic Drift and started to try to find its way back south from the Barents Sea (a higher latitude than even that frequented by mollis)?�While a North Atlantic bird might know to do this, would a southern one?

The Soft-plumaged Petrel is a bird of cold, stormy seas with a more dynamic, ndulating�flight than northern Pterodromas. One of its best characters at a distance is the white flash of its belly contrasting with a very dark underwing as it turns over at the top of the undulation, which I do not remember in feae. The Varanger bird and Brian Sullivan's pictures show darker underwings than I remember in feae, but it is difficult to make much of this. The grey at the side of the breast and development of a breast-band are variable in several species of Pterodroma, including mollis, where it is less in Tristan- Gough birds than Marion-Crozet ones (aptly nameed dubia), which seem to occur further south. These tend to have a dark brest and white throat, and Bernie Zonfrillow claims to have seen a dark breast-band off Madeira, so it is also difficult to make much of that. I agree the Varanger bird seems compact for feae, like mollis. It should provide scope for discussion until the cows come home.

Bill Bourne

and:

Subject: More on the Pterodroma - Arctic Norway
From: Tony Pym <tony_pym AT hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:29:05 +0100

SOFT-PLUMAGED PETRELS

I have looked at further photographs of Soft-plumaged Petrels. They seem to show the smaller white chin and throat area of P. mollis (that I wrote in my last note), whereas the Norway bird has a large white throat, even extending to the upper breast on some images.

Compared to Soft-plumaged Petrel, the breast band on the Norway bird seems lower down the chest, this giving the larger white area at the throat. Check Brian's gallery of photos of P. mollis and you'll see what I mean with both (a) the breast band position and (b) the resultant smaller size of the white chin/throat.

There are Fea's Petrels that show extensive shoulder patches. Some birds in lateral profile have collars that extend to lower line of the neck, thus these would have a partial collar of 80%, even more (see for example Niklas Holmstrom's website:
http://madeira.seawatching.net/species/Pte_fea/index.html).

I cannot find a complete collar yet on a Fea's or Zino's photo, though it is interesting that Bill Bourne, in his note a couple of days back, quotes Bernie Zonfrillo seeing a bird with a full breast band off Madeira.

Take another look at Graham's photos from Varanger and check, as an example, his Photo 9 and then enlarge it (www.pewit.blogspot.com/2009/07/soft-plumaged-petrel-2.html) - it appears to show that the breast band does NOT join at the centre.

Unfortunately, many of Brian's photos are overexposed and my second earlier point, the amount of white on the inner leading edge of the underwing, is completely lost as so many shots show the underwings 'burnt-out', with grey coverts looking whiter than they really are; so a number of these shots are misleading.

Variations, particularly in P. (f.) feae and P. madeira, need further research to help with satisfactory identification of the Norway bird. More study could answer many questions on these two taxa e.g. confirming the narrow bill and overall size appearing about right; maybe the breast band also; flanks can be cleanly white on North Atlantic birds; wear needs to be checked regarding the face pattern plus rump and uppertail.

If this is a Soft-plumaged Petrel, as everyone keeps telling me, then it shows some atypical features....mind you, if it is feae/mollis, as I'm leaning towards, it isn't exactly textbook!

Tony Pym

and

Subject: Complete breast-bands on Fea's Petrels
From: Tony Pym <tony_pym AT hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 4 Aug 2009 21:47:01 +0100

Re. Norway Pterodroma - caution on identification of P. mollis/feae, based on breast-bands.

Further to Bill Bourne's and my notes on Pterodromas in the North Atlantic with complete breast-bands, reference was made to Bernie Zonfrillo seeing such a bird. I can add this was reported as Bird Notes from Madeira (Bocagiana 117:1-9) where Paul Jepson and Bernie reported two birds as possible Soft-plumaged Petrels (mollis), but Frank Zino considered these records dubious ''on the basis that some Fea's have extensive breast-bands with a gap as little as 10mm which may appear as a complete breast-band''


Tony Pym

[forktail]

also

Subject: Varanger Pterodroma
From: CWfcurtis AT aol.com
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2009 08:17:52 EDT


Having ploughed through my notes of 34 years at sea, much of it in the
South Atlantic/Indian oceans I find that I am nowhere closer to making up my
mind as to the id of the Varanger bird. I have little experience of the
North Atlantic birds but on reading the literature I feel more inclined to lean

towards mollis. As Bill Bourne has stated birds from the Tristan/Gough
Island area have, generally, a less distinct and less dark breast band than
those from the Indian Ocean. In April 1974 I went to both Tristan and Gough
Island seeing many mollis during that time, mainly at a distance though
some at very close quarters. Of the latter several were noted to show next
to no breast band, a fact that tended to confuse as the books I had access
to did not stress this feature. Out of several thousand birds seen off
South Africa during April and May 1974 at least 12 showed no breast band at
all. [It should be stressed that many birds were at a distance that
precluded detailed examination] Similarly, in November 1974 I went ashore
on Gough, though only for a few hours, and spent a week anchored off
Tristan. Again many mollis were seen with many having faint to almost non
existent breast bands. During these years the birds with the most pronounced
breast bands were invariably to the east of South Africa and may have been
birds from the I Ocean [ie dubia]. Also during some total of 4-1/2 years
spent in the South Atlantic [Falklands/South Georgia] I saw many with incomplete breast bands and several with none at all. As the number critically observed those with incomplete breast bands must have constituted some 2 or 3 percent. I was also in correspondence with the late Jim Enticott who was of a similar view having seen such birds off Capetown/Aghulas

The literature if of little help:-
HANZAB [Vol 1A] is contradictory
Field Id: "Underparts white, with narrow dark-grey band partially or completely across breast"

Plumage "Grey to light-grey band extends across foreneck; width varies and borders indistinct; in palest birds, barely meets in centre; in darkest, centre band if about half width of white throat"

Steve Madge, in Birding World Vol 3, No. 4; states that of over 1000 birds seen [Drake Passage] all had breast bands whilst Carter, also in Birding World, Vol 2. No 11 states that on birds seen by him off Australia "breast band does not quite meet"

My [long-winded] point being that the breast band is a very poor feature and really no reliance ought to be placed upon it. The structure of the bird photographed by Graham in Varanger, on structure etc points towards mollis though as Tony Pim states the bird isn't exactly text-book. I feel we can go further than Soft-plumage Petrel sp.

If it is a southern ocean bird it is conceivable that it arrived off northern Norway as Bill Bourne suggests.

Bill Curtis
[sitting firmly on the fence]

[MichaelF]

Good to hear this; I'd had similar doubts when it was first posted, but didn't have the nerve to say so at the time, not having much field experience of the group (one "soft-plumaged petrel superspecies" off the Northumbs coast).

The Varanger photos at least appear to show a clear gap in Pterodroma-2.jpg (top pic on Graham Catley's site) and a small but clear gap in Pterodroma-9.jpg (4th pic); very similar to e.g. pic 070821_IT.jpg (first pic) on Niklas Holmstrom's Maderia site. While mollis remains a possibility, I don't think feae can't be excluded. Or else, mollis occur around Madeira . . .:ouch:

As an aside . . .
It should provide scope for discussion until the cows come homeLong beyond that - I've been places where the cows come home every evening :wub: