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A Sight Record of a Streaked Shearwater in Oregon

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A Sight Record of a Streaked Shearwater in Oregon NOTES A SIGHT RECORD OF A STREAKED SHEARWATER IN OREGON MICHAEL P. FORCE, 2304 PrinceAlbert Street,Vancouver, B.C., CanadaV5T 3W5 RICHARD A. ROWLETT, P.O. Box 7386, Bellevue,Washington, USA 98008-1386 GEOFF GRACE, 3436 CanberraStreet, SilverSpring, Maryland,USA 20904 On 13 September 1996, while conductingsurveys for marine mammalsand seabirdsaboard the NOAA ship McArthur about 57 kilometersoff the southern Oregon coast,we founda StreakedShearwater (Calonectris leucomelas), a species familiar to both Force and Rowlett. The bird was seen at 08:40 in a large mixed feedingflock over Heceta Bank. Lane County,Oregon (43 ø 59.1 • N, 124 ø 51.4 fW). This constitutesthe firstrecord of the StreakedShearwater for Oregonand the most northeasterlyPacific Ocean occurrence. We hadunobstructed views from the ship'sflying bridge, 14 metersabove sea level. The birdwas seen clearly for abouttwo minutesand passed in frontof the shipas close as 250 meters.It patrolledlow over the water on the starboardside, passed in front of the ship, and eventuallydisappeared astern. We had a variety of binoculars available:20 x 60 prism-stabilizedZeiss (Force), 25 x 150 ship-mountedFujinons (Rowlett),and 7 x 50 hand-heldFujinons (Grace). The ship was engagedin a line- transectsurvey of marine mammalswhose protocol prevented further investigation. We preparedfield notes immediatelyafter the bird was lost from view and before consultingany references.A written report is on file with the Oregon Bird Records Committee. General Appearance:The bird appearedto be in freshplumage with no signof molt, suggestingthat it may have beenin its firstyear. Fairly large and long-winged, gleamingwhite below and brown abovewith a strikingwhite head when seenat a distance.Pale-tipped back feathersgave it a saddledappearance. Body: Underparts from chin to undertailcoverts bright white. Back like upperwingsbut slightlydarker with a veryfaint grayish cast. Rump dark brown, contrasting slightly with back.Mantle and rump feathersnarrowly tipped with pale gray or bully white, creatinga faintly scaledeffect. Head: Foreheadand crown white: nape streakedwith duskybrown. Darker,diffuse brownish smudge around eye extendedposteriorly and coalesced with streaking on hindneck. Wings: Underwing coverts bright white. Grayish brown remigescreated a dark tip and tailing edge of mediumwidth on the underwing. Grayishbrown and white under-primarycoverts formed a conspicuousdark patch near the wrist. Upperwingsdark brown, slightlypaler than the back. Tail: Brown, somewhatlong and slightly wedge-shaped. Bill: Yellowishgray, long and slender, with well defined black tip. The StreakedShearwater was part of a large mixedfeeding aggregation of more than 1000 birdsloosely associating with two nearbyfishing vessels. The bulk of the flockconsisted of Sooty(Puffin us griseus), Pink-looted (P. creatopus), and Buller's(P. bulleri) shearwaters,Northern Fulmars(Fulmarus glacialis), and CaliforniaGulls (Larus ca l iforn icus). Western Gulls (L. occidentalis) and Western x Glaucous-winged (L. glaucescens)gulls were also present. The Streaked Shearwater'soverall size appeared to be between that of a Pink-looted and a Buller's, perhaps closer to Buller's.Its buoyantflight consistedof severalslow, lazy flaps followedby a long, languidglide with low, widearcs. The flightstyle combined with the wingsheld slightly forwardwith a prominentangle at the wristrecalled the Wedge-tailedShearwater (P. pacificus),but the birdwas largerwith wider wings.Its structureand flightwere quite differentfrom thoseof nearbyPink-looted Shearwaters, which appeared chunky and laboredby comparison. Western Birds 30:49-52, 1999 49 NOTES The StreakedShearwater was seen in the neriticprovince of the pelagicenviron- ment (continentalshelf waters less than 200 metersdeep). Sea-surface temperature was 13.2øC, salinity32.48 partsper thousand.Approximate water depth obtained froma nauticalchart was 108 meters(60 fathoms).The cloudcover had just begun to breakafter a morningof steadyrain so light conditions were good with someglare on the starboard side. Wind was from the south at about 14 knots with a 6-foot southwest swell. The StreakedShearwater breeds in the western Pacificon islandsalong the Japaneseand Koreancoasts and in the YellowSea (includingQingdao Island), south alongthe coastof Chinato Taiwan.It is the mostabundant nesting seabird in Japan, breedingon small islandsfrom southwesternHokkaido and the Izu Islands(the locationof the largestknown colony) south to includethe RyukyuIslands (Brazil 1991, Everett and Pitman 1993). A small but stablepopulation of around 30 pairs on KaramzinIsland, in Peterthe GreatBay, Vladivostok,is the mostnortherly colony on the Asian coast(G. Kaiser pers. comm.). It is abundantwithin its range, with an estimatedpopulation of 4 to 5 million,nesting in large densecolonies on forested islandsfrom Februaryto November(peaking in May and June).After breedingthe birdsdisperse south through the East and South China seaswith the bulk of the populationmoving south of the PhilippineSea off New Guinea, where thousands occurNovember through February (Everett and Pitman 1993, Harrison 1983). First recordedin Australiain 1974, the StreakedShearwater is now known to be a regularnonbreeding visitor as far southas coastalVictoria (Blakerset al. 1984, Brazil 1991, Harrison1983, Lindsey,1986). A few continuewest into the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea and may be regularat least as far as the Maidivesand Sri Lanka,with somestraying as far westas Eilat,Israel (Harrison 1983, 1987, Morgan and Shirihai1992, Van den Berg et al. 1982, 1990, Forcepers. obs.). The first Streaked Shearwater recorded for North America was an adult female collectedfrom a mixed shearwaterflock in Monterey Bay on 3 October 1975 (Morejohn1978, Lutheret al. 1979). Five of the sixStreaked Shearwaters currently acceptedby the CaliforniaBird RecordsCommittee, all supportedby a specimenor photograph,are from the MontereyBay area. The sixthis of one foundalive on a parkinglot in Red Bluff,Tehama County, on the unusuallyearly date of 13 August 1993 (Garrettand Singer 1998). The concentrationof sightingsin MontereyBay may reflectthe intensecoverage this area receivesin comparisonto other coastalsites ratherthan its beingan actualfocal point for StreakedShearwaters. The five acceptedMonterey Bay recordsextend over a brief periodin the fall from 7 Septemberto 9 October.Four were in years when Buller'sShearwaters were exceptionallycommon somewhere along the west coastof North America. It is conceivablethat a StreakedShearwater may occasionallyassociate with a flock of Buller'sShearwaters, perhaps somewhere in the westernPacific Ocean, increasing its chancesof reachingthe easternPacific. Buller's Shearwater has undergone a strong populationincrease after introducedpigs were eliminatedfrom AorangiIsland, one of the primary New Zealandnesting colonies (Everett and Pitman 1990). Furthermore, the StreakedShearwater has expanded its range south in the westernPacific (Blakers et al. 1984, Lindsey 1986). An increasehas been documentedin Australiawith hundredsreported annually off that country'snorth coastbetween November and May (Blakerset al. 1984, Lindsey1986). Similarly,sightings of Buller'sShearwater have increasedin Australia,where it is now consideredto be a regularvisitor off the southeastcoast (Lindsey 1986). The Oregon StreakedShearwater was seenwhen highnumbers of Buller'sShearwaters were beingreported off the U.S. westcoast. A commercialbirding trip to Heceta Bank on 5 October 1996 tallied a record 290 Buller'sShearwaters, surpassing the previousstate high by almost150 (GregGillson pers. comm.). 5O NOTES The white face and foreheadand the relativelypale appearanceof the Streaked Shearwaterenabled it to be relocatedeasily in a distantflock. The prominentdark carpalpatch on a mostlywhite underwingwas a usefulfield character not mentioned in the standardseabird guides. Morgan and Shirihai(1992) consideredthe carpal patchto be diagnostic,and it isdescribed and readilyvisible in photographsin Stallcup (1990) and Bevier(1990). The extentand intensityof headstreaking is subjectto an unknownamount of variation.Since molt and aberrantplumages can causesimilar speciesto appearwhite-headed in the field,this character should be usedwith caution. Stableconcentrations of feedingseabirds at suchfeatures of the continentalshelf as submarinecanyons or shallowbanks hold high probabilitiesfor futuresightings of the StreakedShearwater. It is gregariousand readilyjoins mixed feeding flocks (Blakers et al. 1984, Lindsey1986, Forcepers. obs.). Often containinghundreds of birds,these mixed-speciesassemblages are frequentlytargeted for scrutinyby an increasing number of commercialpelagic trips. Additionalsightings of this attractiveand distinctive shearwater are sure to follow. We thank the officers and crew of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrationresearch ship McArthur for a comfortableand enjoyableobservation platformduring the 3-monthcruise. We alsothank chief scientist Jay Barlow and Lisa Ballanceand Stephen Reilly of the SouthwestFisheries Science Center, La Jolla, California,for permissionto publishthe sightingand to be able to collectseabird- abundance data on behalf of the marine-mammal division. Robert Pitman and additionalreviewers made useful comments on the manuscript. LITERATURE CITED Bevier,L. R. 1990. Eleventhreport of the CaliforniaBird RecordsCommittee. W. Birds 21:145-176. Blakers,M., Davies.S. J. J. F., and Reilly,P. N. 1984. The Atlasof AustralianBirds. Royal
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