A Review of the Procellariiformes Occurring in South Australian Waters
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
28 SOUTH AUSTRALIAN ORNITHOLOGIST, 27 A REVIEW OF THE PROCELLARIIFORMES OCCURRING IN SOUTH AUSTRALIAN WATERS JOHN B. COX . SUMMARY fat~om line, an~ a more southern deep-sea COX, .J. B.. 1976. A Review of the Procellariiformes occurring In South Australian waters SA Orn region. T?e Sub-Tropical Convergence" 27: 25-82. ." ., penetrates Into the south-western extremies of This paper is primarily a detailed account of the the latt~r region. Thus three maritime zones known status of the albatrosses and petrels that occur are considered, and these will herein be known In. the seas off South Australia. The sources of th~ evidence of .status are detailed, and environmental as: Coastal Zone, the Deep-sea Zone (both factor~ that mfluence the movements of most species essentially sub-Tropical) and the Sub-Antarctic are discussed, .Problems associated with taxonomy Zone. are considered ~f there is doubt as to what forms By considering the species that inhabit each occ~r m the re~lOn, and identification points of most species are detailed, zone, a useful comparison is made with those 34 species .have. been recorded: two breeding and species which have occurred as derelicts upon 32 non-breeding visitors, the latter including at least the coastline. seve~ rare or vagrant species. The majority of the Data were collected in three basic ways: specIe.s that regularly disperse from their various breeding- grounds and into the region originate from observing the birds from sea and shore and more w~sterly ocean islands, and their movements are patrolling the beaches for specimens washed largely mfiuence.d by the prevailing westerly winds of ashore. Of these, the latter method is less useful the sub-Antarctic zone. Many may have evolved a in determining distribution because the birds regular dispersal movement because of these winds. Mortality of Procellariiformes is often considerable are of. doubtful origin. However, apart from when gales trap birds on a lee-shore of the coastline supplymg museums with valuable material, or when ecological fluctuations cause a species' food~ beach-derelicts do help to indicate the move supply to decline. Most beach derelicts consist of the ments of a species away from its normal range. weaker individuals of a species, many of which may Therefore by combination of these with observa have been subject to drift by the wind for great distances OVer the seas .before they eventually tions of the birds at sea, a more complete basis succumbed when. encountering a lee-shore. The for conclusions is formed. occurrence of larger than usual numbers of an The ideal method to observe seabirds is from individual species found dead on the coastline during a season indicates that the species was afflicted by a boat; but voyages cannot usually be obtained environmental or ecological adversities. without considerable expense. In South Aus tralia it has been found to be difficult even to INTRODUCTION charter a suitable boat. Fortunately though, No major review of the distributional status many species are easily seen from shore and the of albatrosses and petrels in South Australian gaps in our knowledge, that were left through waters has previously been undertaken. The a lack of previous positive and consistent work, brief summaries given by Condon (1969) and were diminished by the use of sea-watching. As Serventy et at (1971) are perhaps the best in all sciences it is necessary to use the different guides. sources of data that are available in order to The following review is based on recent avoid obscure or incorrect conclusions. extensive field and museum work) combined A prerequisite for observing seabirds is some with reviews of published data. It leaves knowledge of identification. Consequently this questions unanswered) being intended to report is discussed, often with reference to points not completed work and provide a firmer basis from generally considered. All these have been which future work might be conducted. confirmed by an examination of specimens. As For purposes of this paper) the region that the smaller albatrosses (Diomedea) have already is considered extends south from the South been discussed in a previous paper (Cox, 1973), Australian coastline between longitudes 1290 E their identification is only elaborated upon and 1410 E) to latitude 40" S (figure 1). This where necessary. area lies mainly within the sub-Tropical zone For identification, acquired experience is of surface waters (for a more complete account often essential; and this can only be gained bv of marine zonation, see Serventy et at) 1971, undertaking consistent field-work. 3-20) which can be divided into two regions: The accounts given of recent observations are A shallow region where the continental shelf mainly a compilation of data obtained by Drs. slopes gradually from the coast to the 100 D. H. Close, J. H. Hatch and the author. JANUARY, 1976 29 Because of this collaboration it is impractical able work along certain avenues are proposed. to detail records individually. Therefore these The· appendix lists the species that are currently are accompanied by initials where it is thought in the S,A. Museum collection and available relevant. It should also be said that any views for study purposes. This includes species that expressed herein are riot necessarily shared, but do not occur in South Australian waters. are those only currently held by the author. Treatment of Records PROCEDURE Records by Close, Hatch and the author are Firstly, the treatment of data in this paper detailed, often with field notes, to enable future is given and then the methods used for their reviewers to judge them. collection are detailed. Then a systematic Within the region much of our present know account of the species is presented followed by ledge rests upon the many accounts of seabirds an account of Procellariiforme movements and seen from ships transecting the Australian Bight. the occurrences of beach-derelicts. Some visual This paper largely depends on these for records peculiarities are also detailed. The conclusions from the higher latitudes, but they do provide are summarised and, with marine zonal distri a fairly complete picture of the birds at sea if bution, partially analysed. Possible future the data contained are collated and synthesised. projects are discussed and suggestions for profit- It is noted that many of the accounts include , 1, 1, 1, 1 1, , 35 \ I I + I I I I I I I 1 B 1 1 1 .1 1, I 1 I, 1 1 1 I 1 I I I, 1 1 1 1 "-M')(.>{'XXXX~X~C4l1 sUB-TRO 1 + . .. 0. _ + 4 0 1 +.J<)(~X~VER,.,,~--------------- 140 I __ -- J(fJr;;["tCE 135 • 40'---- "'~;C,.l( 130 C ~~"t.>(.sr Distributional Zones Figure 1; Dotted lime enc1 oses area considered by this paper. A = coastal zone "B = deep-sea zone; C = sub-Antarctic zone. C:<>' 0' x=Major observation point A X =Minor observation point KILOMETRES ':'" ......... ;: Coursesof vessels from I -1-- I I 1 I which sea. observations o 10 0 zoo 300 400 t ~OO were made 300~ o» 0' d, ~; >. C Eyre en' Australian ;dl Peninsula >. ....t"" Bight ~ 0' ~ .... ~: 0 ~ 0' 35 t-"o Q' Km .... ,-I~--I 1 CI>' o 10 20 30 40 ~I-j l>:l' 4 -s ~-1.- ~ ~ (Q~ C?, ~. -0 "'..,:. ~ "'0-- port ~ ~ "f; Km Q.- \- ~ 6 -- 1'0 5 OUT0 HER N o C E A N 0 130 1350 140 B Figure 2; Map of locations and sea-routes. JANUARY~ 1976 31 errors of identification and can be often shown evolutionary aspects' of members of the genus as incorrect by comparisons with other accounts. are far from clear and still remain something Because knowledge of identification was often of an enigma. inadequate, earlier references tend particularly to show errors. METHODS As far as possible all "accounts have been RECENT FIELD STUDY scrutinised, objectively. It is not intended to Sea-watching resurrect discussion about records that are Sea-watching was regularly undertaken along generally omitted by authorities, such as Condon the eastern shoreline of the Gulf St. Vincent (1969), unless it is now thought that they are between 1968 and 1975; this still continues. correct. Many references include only a species This was mainly done from Brighton and name and these are therefore included only if Aldinga but visits were also made to most loca some other means of corroboration,. such as tions between Outer Harbor and Cape Jervis. described previous records, satisfies the present Observations were carried out during all seasons writer that they are correct. and during varying weather conditions. Treatment of Specimens Collected From September 1969 regular sea-watching Whenever thought relevant the location of was begun from various places on the southern cited specimens is given; but this is not practic coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula. By 1971 pre able with many because of the numbers ference was given to the Waitpinga area during involved. the winter. Consequently fewer observations Some specimens were found to be mis were made during summer: Sea-watching at identified. In the case of S.A. Museum birds, Waitpinga still continues, but to December these were brought to the attention of S. A. 1974, 73 visits, sometimes with overnight stays, Parker who has accordingly re-labelled them were made. Other areas between Cape Jervis correctly. In these instances care has been taken and Goolwa were visited 23 times. Additionally, to give the correct registration number so that sea-watches were undertaken at Robe, Cape others may check if they so desire; but in the Spencer and various points on the western case of some species where misidentifications shores of the Spencer Gulf. have been too numerous - for example, over Depending upon many factors, such as 30 specimens of prions - it is impracticable to weather conditions and the relative abundance list all of them.