– Or Is It? 100 Birds Seen, Jouanin’S Petrels Were the PETER RYAN His Useful Comments on a Draft of This Note
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NEWS & VIEWS suggests that Jouanin’s Petrels only arrive second most common procellariform he in the Mozambique Channel in early encountered, occurring at densities un- summer, after the breeding season. It is known away from the breeding areas. unknown when they return north. However, Shirihai’s impression was that In November 2017 I was fortunate to these birds were smaller and had more join an oceanographic cruise on the SA slender bills than typical Jouanin’s Petrels Agulhas II from Dar es Salaam to Dur- observed around Socotra. Like the birds ban. As is typical of tropical waters, off northern Mozambique, most were seabirds were generally scarce, with in moult, with fresh greater coverts that significant concentrations only around contrast more strongly with the rest of Latham Island off Tanzania. Petrels were the upperwing than is typical of Jouanin’s decidedly rare, with Jouanin’s the only Petrels. Shirihai and Bretagnolle (2015, species seen off Tanzania and north- Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club ern Mozambique; Great-winged Petrels 135: 348‒351) suggest that the Comoros were common off KwaZulu-Natal, with birds may represent an undescribed a few stragglers reaching southern Mo- popu lation of Bulweria petrels, but the zambique. Seven Jouanin’s Petrels were fact that they were in moult suggests seen, four off Mozambique from 9 to 11 that they were unlikely to breed on the November and although they were not Comoros. Adding to the confusion, the particularly confiding, two individuals few measurements available of Bulwer’s were photographed, constituting the first Petrels from Round Island off Mauritius PETER RYAN confirmed records from Mozambique. average larger than birds from the Pacific above The first photographic evidence All the birds were in early wing moult, or Atlantic Ocean colonies. Clearly more of Jouanin’s Petrel off Mozambique on having fresh greater coverts and growing work is needed on these intriguing and 9 November 2017, showing characteristics their inner primaries. The new coverts poorly known tropical petrels. of the Comoros birds. were pale grey, forming a bar across the Shirihai’s images from the Comoros upperwing. closely resemble the birds photographed below and below, left A Jouanin’s-type off northern Mozambique at the same petrel photographed off the Comoros in early ut were they Jouanin’s Petrels? time of year. So although we now have November. Note the newly grown pale greyish In early November 2014, Hado- photographic evidence that Jouanin’s- greater coverts forming a pale bar on the ram Shirihai visited the Comoros type petrels occur in Mozambican wa- wing and the relatively slender bill. jouanin’s petrel JACOB GARVELINK archipelagoB at the northern end of the ters, their identity remains controversial, Mozambique Channel to photograph the pending further information on whether ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ‘Mohéli’ form of Persian Shearwater Puffi- the Comoros birds do indeed differ from I am grateful to Hadoram Shirihai for per- nus persicus temptator. With more than Jouanin’s Petrels. mission to use his stunning images and for – or is it? 100 birds seen, Jouanin’s Petrels were the PETER RYAN his useful comments on a draft of this note. ouanin’s Petrel Bulweria fallax is an it became extinct shortly after the island Mozambique Channel from 2002 to 2010 enigmatic petrel that was first de- was settled in the 1500s. (Jaquemet et al. 2014, Deep-sea Research II Jscribed in 1955 and the first nest re- Jouanin’s Petrels breed from May to 100: 200‒211), but all were from the terri- ported only in 2002. Unlike the smaller, September during the summer mon- torial waters of Madagascar, the Comoros widespread Bulwer’s Petrel B. bulwerii, it soon. Non-breeding birds disperse widely or France (around Juan de Nova). is confined to tropical waters of the In- throughout the tropical Indian Ocean, Until recently, all southern African re- dian Ocean and is most common off the mainly between 15°N and 15°S, reach- cords were from November and Decem- Arabian Peninsula. Some 3000 pairs are ing as far east as the Timor Sea between ber, but the significance of this restricted estimated to breed on the sheer west- Australia and Indonesia (Ryan et al. 2013, period of occurrence has been hard to ern cliffs of Socotra, but it probably also Ostrich 84: 157‒160). The species is in- assess given the limited search effort. breeds at small islands or coastal cliffs in cluded on the southern African list based Dom Rollinson racked up an impressive Oman and possibly even on cliffs along on a handful of sightings from the Mo- list of seabird firsts for Mozambique from the Somali coast. A third Bulweria petrel, zambique Channel (Ryan et al. 2006, Bul- a tuna long-liner fishing in the Mozam- Olson’s Petrel B. bifax, used to breed on St letin of the African Bird Club 13: 197‒204), bique Channel between August and mid- Helena in the tropical Atlantic Ocean but but there are no photographic records October 2015, when he encountered one from this area and it is not included on Jouanin’s Petrel approximately 120 kilo- above A typical Jouanin’s Petrel, photo- the African Bird Club’s list for Mozam- metres east of Vilanculos on 5 October graphed off Oman, showing the heavy bill and bique. Ten were recorded during seven (Rollinson in press, Bulletin of the Afri- uniform upperwing coverts. oceanographic cruises in the northern can Bird Club). His lack of earlier records HADORAM SHIRIHAI (2) 10 AFRICAN BIRDLIFE MARCH/APRIL 2018 NEWS & VIEWS 11.