Wilson's Storm-Petrel
(Oceanites oceanicus)

Summary

Picture of bird
© JJ Harrison - License
For additional photos and vocalizations, visit Dendroica. (Link opens in a new window.)

Wilson’s Storm-Petrels breed in the tens of millions on sub-Antarctic islands and the Antarctic continent, and undertake a trans-equatorial migration to overwinter and forage mostly in the mid-latitudes of the North Atlantic and North Indian Oceans. These wide-ranging habits make them a common summer visitor in offshore waters of southern Nova Scotia but also a challenge to study in their non-breeding habitat. Consequently, monitoring results are not available to assess population trends in Canada. The oceanicus subspecies is generally accepted to be that which winters in Atlantic Canadian waters (Howell 2012).

Designations

Listing of the main designations for the species
DesignationStatusDateSubspecies, population
IUCN (Global)Least Concern2012 

Population status

Geographic areaStatusReliability
CanadaData DeficientData Deficient
 

Population estimate

CanadaNot yet available
 

Distribution maps

 

Migration strategy, occurrence

Seasonal visitor

Responsibility for conservation of world population

CanadaTo be determined

Conservation and management

Most known threats to Wilson’s Storm-Petrels occur on the breeding grounds in the Southern hemisphere, including loss of eggs, chicks and adults to predatory birds and invasive mammals (Marchant and Higgins 1990). As with other species, Wilson's Storm-petrel is susceptible to attraction and collisions associated with lights and flares used on oil and gas platforms (Ronconi et al. 2015). Other potential at-sea threats include ingestion of plastics, entanglement in fishing gear, and potential competition with fisheries for krill (Moser and Lee 1992, Moore 1992). Environmental pollutants including toxic heavy metals may also pose a threat as they have been shown to affect breeding success in other Storm Petrel species (Lee et al. 2012).

 

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.

BCRs, marine biogeographic units, and sub-regions in which the species is listed as a priority
RegionSub-region and priority type
NoneNone
 

References