Leach's Storm-Petrel
(Oceanodroma leucorhoa)

Overview

Summary

© Jukka Jantunen
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Leach's Storm-Petrels breed throughout the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, returning to their island nest burrows at night. In winter, they remain widespread in both oceans, though tending to move south to more tropical waters far from any landmass. These behavioural traits make studying the species difficult and the species remains relatively unknown despite being numerous and widespread. This species has been identified as a priority for conservation and/or stewardship in one or more Bird Conservation Region Strategies in Canada.

Designations

Population status

Population estimate

Distribution maps

• BirdLife International / NatureServe

Migration strategy, occurrence

Responsibility for conservation of world population

Conservation and management

Entire colonies of Leach's Storm Petrel have been extirpated from their breeding islands by introduced mammalian predators (Huntington et al. 1996) and monitoring important colonies for introduced mammals is a priority for this species. Gull predation appears to be a significant factor in the declines observed in Witless Bay (S. Wilhelm, Environment Canada, unpublished data), while an irruptive meadow vole population on Country Island appears to be negatively impacting this colony (Environment Canada, unpublished data). Research is on-going to determine the extent to which the population is affected by contaminants and predation by gulls (Robertson et al. 2006). Despite its large population, the lack of monitoring information for this species means that large changes in the population could go unnoticed.

Bird conservation region strategies

Environment and Climate Change Canada and partners have developed Bird Conservation Region Strategies in each of Canada’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). In these strategies, selected species are identified as priorities for one or more of the following reasons:

• conservation concerns (i.e., species vulnerable due to population size, distribution, population trend, abundance, or threats)
• stewardship responsibilities (i.e., species that typify the regional avifauna or have a large proportion of their range or population in the sub-region)
• management concerns (i.e., species that require ongoing management because of their socio-economic importance as game species, or because of their impacts on other species or habitats)
• other concerns (i.e., species deemed a priority by regional experts for other reasons than those listed above or because they are listed as species at risk or concern at the provincial level)

Select any of the sub-regions below to view the BCR strategy for additional details.

References

• Huntington, C.E., R.G. Butler and R.A. Mauck. 1996. Leach's Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma leucorhoa), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Huntington, C.E., R.G. Butler and R.A. Mauck. 1996. Leach's Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma leucorhoa), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. (Link)
• Lormée, H., K. Delord, B. Letournel, and C. Barbraud. 2012. Population survey of Leach's Storm-petrels breeding at Grand Colombier, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon Archipelago. Wilson Journal of Ornithology 124:245-252.
• Robertson, G.J., J. Russell, R. Bryant, D.A. Fifield and I.J. Stenhouse. 2006. Size and trends of Leach’s Storm-Petrel Oceanodroma leucorhoa breeding populations in Newfoundland. Atlantic Seabirds 8:41-50. Robertson, G.J., J. Russell, R. Bryant, D.A. Fifield and I.J. Stenhouse. 2006. Size and trends of Leach’s Storm-Petrel Oceanodroma leucorhoa breeding populations in Newfoundland. Atlantic Seabirds 8:41-50. (Link)
• Wilhelm, S.I., J. Mailhiot, J. Arany, J.W. Chardine, G.J. Robertson, and P.C. Ryan. 2015. Incorporating the use of a geographic information system to monitor colonial seabirds: implications for population trends. Submitted to Marine Ornithology.