Tristram's storm petrel

Tristram's storm petrel
Photographed on Nihoa Island
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Procellariiformes
Family:	Hydrobatidae
Genus:	Oceanodroma
Species:	O. tristrami
Binomial name
Oceanodroma tristrami Salvin, 1896

Tristram's storm petrel (Oceanodroma tristrami) is a species of seabird in the storm petrel family Hydrobatidae. The species' common and scientific name is derived from the English clergyman Henry Baker Tristram; the species can also be known as the sooty storm petrel. Tristram's storm petrel has a distribution across the north Pacific Ocean, predominantly in tropical seas.

This storm petrel has long, angular wings and is 24 cm long. Its plumage is all over dark with a slightly pale rump and a pale grey bar on the upper wing. The species is colonial, nesting in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, and in several small islands south of Japan, including the Bonin Islands and Izu. Colonies are attended at night, and the species breeds during the winter. At sea, the species is pelagic, feeding on squid and fish.

Tristram's storm petrel is considered near threatened. All of its breeding colonies in Hawaii are protected areas, but the species has undergone declines in the past due to introduced rats on Torishima Island.

The species is named after Reverend Henry Baker Tristram, who also collected natural history specimens.

Taxonomy

The holotype specimen of Oceanodroma tristrami Salvin (Cat.Bds.Brit.Mus., 25,1896, p.347) is held in the collections of National Museums Liverpool at World Museum, with accession number T9781. The specimen was collected by Lieutenant Gunn at Sendai Bay, Japan, July 1874, and came to the Liverpool collection via Henry Baker Tristram's collection.

References

• Brooke, M. (2004). Albatrosses And Petrels Across The World Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK ISBN 0-19-850125-0