Leach's Storm Petrel (Hydrobates leucorhous)

OTHER NAMES: Leach's Petrel
Latin Etymology: Hydrobates ("water walker") leucorhous ("white rumped")

Adult Leach's Storm Petrel (Hydrobates leucorhous) at Pitsford Reservoir, Northants - October 2021

Featured Subspecies: Hydrobates leucorhous leucorhous
Weight: 40-50g  /  Length: 19-22cm  /  Wingspan: 45-48cm
UK AMBER LIST / IUCN Red List: Vulnerable

The Storm Petrels in general follow some basic themes- very tiny ocean faring birds that generally nest in burrows at night to protect themselves from predators. Leach's Petrels in particularly are an incredibly widely distributed species found across the oceans of much of the Northern Hemisphere below the Arctic Circle. It is slightly larger than the two other regular Storm Petrel species of Europe nad a forked tail. Normally only seen on the open ocean or on the remote islands on which it most commonly breeds, I got lucky in this instance when a single bird appeared on Pitsford reservoir following bad weather.

Related Species:
Order: Procellariiformes
Family: Hydrobatidae
Genus: Hydrobates
SUBSPECIES: H. l. leucorhous, H. l. chapmani

 - Sighting Locations -

UNITED KINGDOM - A breeding population of 48,000 pairs that spends much of it's time out in the open ocean.

 - A single storm-wrecked individual at Pitsford Reservoir in October 2021.

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto