Hydrobatinae
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Northern storm petrels are
seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adaptation, adapted to life within the marine ecosystem, marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent ...
s in the genus ''Hydrobates'' in the
family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
Hydrobatidae, part of the order
Procellariiformes Procellariiformes is an order (biology), order of seabirds that comprises four family (biology), families: the albatrosses, the Procellariidae, petrels and shearwaters, and two families of storm petrels. Formerly called Tubinares and still call ...
. The family was once lumped with the similar
austral storm petrel Austral storm petrels, or southern storm petrels, are seabirds in the family Oceanitidae, part of the order Procellariiformes. These smallest of seabirds feed on planktonic crustaceans and small fish picked from the surface, typically while hove ...
s in the combined storm petrels, but have been split, as they are not closely related. These smallest of seabirds feed on
plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms that drift in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) but are unable to actively propel themselves against ocean current, currents (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are ca ...
ic crustaceans and small fish picked from the surface, typically while hovering. Their flight is fluttering and sometimes
bat Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...
-like. The northern storm petrels are found in the Northern Hemisphere, although some species around the Equator dip into the south. They are strictly
pelagic The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean and can be further divided into regions by depth. The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or water column between the sur ...
, coming to land only when breeding. In the case of most species, little is known of their behaviour and distribution at sea, where they can be hard to find and harder to identify. They are colonial nesters, displaying strong
philopatry Philopatry is the tendency of an organism to stay in or habitually return to a particular area. The causes of philopatry are numerous, but natal philopatry, where animals return to their birthplace to breed, may be the most common. The term derives ...
to their natal colonies and nesting sites. Most species nest in crevices or burrows, and all but one species attend the breeding colonies nocturnally. Pairs form long-term,
monogamous Monogamy ( ) is a relationship of two individuals in which they form a mutual and exclusive intimate partnership. Having only one partner at any one time, whether for life or serial monogamy, contrasts with various forms of non-monogamy (e.g. ...
bonds and share incubation and chick-feeding duties. Like many species of seabirds, nesting is highly protracted, with incubation taking up to 50 days and
fledging Fledging is the stage in a flying animal's life between hatching or birth and becoming capable of flight. This term is most frequently applied to birds, but is also used for bats. For altricial birds, those that spend more time in vulnerable c ...
another 70 days after that. Several species of storm petrel are
threatened A threatened species is any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which is vulnerable to extinction in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensatio ...
by human activities. One species, the
Guadalupe storm petrel The Guadalupe storm petrel (''Hydrobates macrodactylus'') is a small seabird of the storm petrel family (biology), family Hydrobatidae. It bred only on Guadalupe Island off Baja California, Mexico, and presumably ranged throughout the region. It ...
, is thought to have gone
extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
. The principal threats to storm petrels are
introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...
, particularly mammals, in their breeding colonies; many storm petrels habitually nest on isolated mammal-free islands and are unable to cope with predators such as
rat Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include '' Neotoma'' (pack rats), '' Bandicota'' (bandicoo ...
s and
feral cat A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned domestic cat (''Felis catus'') that lives outdoors and avoids human contact; it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens ...
s.


Taxonomy

The family Hydrobatidae was introduced with ''Hydrobates'' as the
type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus (''genus typica'') is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearin ...
by the Australian born ornithologist
Gregory Mathews Gregory Macalister Mathews CBE FRSE FZS FLS (10 September 1876 – 27 March 1949) was an Australian-born amateur ornithologist who spent most of his later life in England. Life He was born in Biamble in New South Wales the son of Robert H. M ...
in 1912. The background is complicated as the family Hydrobatidae had originally been introduced in 1849 with ''Hydrobata'' as the type genus by the French zoologist
Côme-Damien Degland Côme-Damien Degland (6 July 1787 – 1 January 1856, Lille) was a French physician and zoologist. Biography Born in Armentières, Degland lived in Lille for most of his life, where he was the chief of the Hôpital Saint-Sauveur until his death. H ...
. ''Hydrobata'' had been erected in 1816 for species in the dipper family Cinclidae by the French ornithologist
Louis Pierre Vieillot Louis Pierre Vieillot (10 May 1748, Yvetot – 24 August 1830, Sotteville-lès-Rouen) was a French ornithologist. Vieillot is the author of the first scientific descriptions and Linnaean names of a number of birds, including species he collected ...
. In 1992 the
International Code of Zoological Nomenclature The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted Convention (norm), convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific name, scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the I ...
(ICZN) suppressed the genus ''Hydrobata'' Vieillot, 1816. Under the rules of the ICZN the family Hydrobatidae Degland, 1849 thus became unavailable as the type genus had been suppressed. This cleared the way for the family Hydrobatidae introduced in 1912 by Mathews. The genus ''Hydrobates'' was erected in 1822 by the German zoologist
Friedrich Boie Friedrich Boie (4 June 1789 – 3 March 1870) was a German entomologist, herpetologist, ornithologist, and lawyer.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Universi ...
. He listed two species but did not specify a
type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...
. In 1884 Spencer Baird, Thomas Brewer and
Robert Ridgway Robert Ridgway (July 2, 1850 – March 25, 1929) was an American ornithologist specializing in systematics. He was appointed in 1880 by Spencer Fullerton Baird, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, to be the first full-time curator of birds ...
designated the
European storm petrel The European storm petrel (''Hydrobates pelagicus''), also known as British storm petrel, or just storm petrel, is a species of seabird in the northern storm petrel family, Hydrobatidae. The small, square-tailed bird is entirely black except f ...
as the type species. The genus name combines the
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
'' hudro-'' meaning "water-" with ''batēs'' meaning "walker". In the past two subfamilies, the Hydrobatinae and Oceanitinae, were recognized within a single large family Hydrobatidae, but this has since been split with the elevation of the Oceanitidae to family status.Carboneras, C. (1992) "Family Hydrobatidae (Storm petrels)" pp. 258–265 in ''Handbook of Birds of the World'' Vol 1. Barcelona:Lynx Edicions, The
Oceanitidae Austral storm petrels, or southern storm petrels, are seabirds in the Family (biology), family Oceanitidae, part of the order Procellariiformes. These smallest of seabirds feed on planktonic crustaceans and small fish picked from the surface, ty ...
, or austral storm petrels, are mostly found in southern waters (though
Wilson's storm petrel Wilson's storm petrel (''Oceanites oceanicus''), also known as Wilson's petrel, is a small seabird of the austral storm petrel family Oceanitidae. It is one of the most abundant bird species in the world and has a circumpolar distribution mainly ...
regularly migrates into the Northern Hemisphere). The Hydrobatidae, or northern storm petrels, are largely restricted to the Northern Hemisphere, although a few visit or breed a short distance south of the equator. The family Hydrobatidae originally included two genera ''Hydrobates'' and ''Oceanodroma''. Cytochrome ''b''
DNA sequence A nucleic acid sequence is a succession of bases within the nucleotides forming alleles within a DNA (using GACT) or RNA (GACU) molecule. This succession is denoted by a series of a set of five different letters that indicate the order of the nu ...
analysis suggested that the family was
paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...
and more accurately treated as two distinct families. A few fossil species have been found, with the earliest being from the Upper
Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...
. In 2021, the
IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based in L ...
merged ''Hydrobates'' and ''Oceanodroma'' into the single genus ''Hydrobates'', as the family was paraphyletic as previously defined. The following cladogram shows the results of the phylogenetic analysis by Wallace et al. (2017).


Species

One species, the
Guadalupe storm petrel The Guadalupe storm petrel (''Hydrobates macrodactylus'') is a small seabird of the storm petrel family (biology), family Hydrobatidae. It bred only on Guadalupe Island off Baja California, Mexico, and presumably ranged throughout the region. It ...
(''O. macrodactyla''), is
possibly extinct The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological spe ...
. In 2010, the
International Ornithological Congress International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...
(IOC) added the Cape Verde storm petrel (''O. jabejabe'') to their list of accepted species (AS) splits, following Bolton et al. 2007. This species was split from the band-rumped storm petrel (''O. castro''). In 2016, the IOC added
Townsend's storm petrel Townsend's storm petrel (''Hydrobates socorroensis'') is a species of seabird in the family Hydrobatidae. It breeds in the summer on rocks and islets of Guadalupe Island off the western coast of Mexico. It ranges in the Eastern Pacific Ocean nor ...
(''O. socorroensis'') and
Ainley's storm petrel Ainley's storm petrel (''Hydrobates cheimomnestes'') is a species of seabird in the family Hydrobatidae. It breeds in the winter on Guadalupe Island off the western coast of Mexico. It ranges south to the Galápagos Islands. It is considered by ...
(''O. cheimomnestes'') to their list of AS splits, following Howell 2012. These species were split from
Leach's storm petrel Leach's storm petrel or Leach's petrel (''Hydrobates leucorhous'') is a small seabird of the tubenose order. It is named after the British zoologist William Elford Leach. The scientific name is derived from Ancient Greek. ''Hydrobates'' is from ...
(''O. leucorhoa'').


Morphology and flight

Northern storm petrels are the smallest of all the
seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adaptation, adapted to life within the marine ecosystem, marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent ...
s, ranging in size from 13 to 25 cm in length. The Hydrobatidae have longer wings than the austral storm petrels, forked or wedge-shaped tails, and shorter legs. The legs of all storm petrels are proportionally longer than those of other Procellariiformes, but they are very weak and unable to support the bird's weight for more than a few steps. All but two of the Hydrobatidae are mostly dark in colour with varying amounts of white on the rump. Two species have different plumage entirely, the ringed storm petrel, which has white undersides and facial markings, and the
fork-tailed storm petrel The fork-tailed storm petrel (''Hydrobates furcatus'') is a small seabird of the storm petrel family Hydrobatidae. It is the second-most abundant and widespread storm petrel (after Leach's storm petrel) and is the only bird in its family that is ...
, which has pale grey plumage. This is a notoriously difficult group to identify at sea. Onley and Scofield (2007) state that much published information is incorrect, and that photographs in the major seabird books and websites are frequently incorrectly ascribe species. The same researchers also state that several national bird lists include species that have been incorrectly identified or have been accepted on inadequate evidence. Storm petrels use a variety of techniques to aid
flight Flight or flying is the motion (physics), motion of an Physical object, object through an atmosphere, or through the vacuum of Outer space, space, without contacting any planetary surface. This can be achieved by generating aerodynamic lift ass ...
. Most species occasionally feed by surface pattering, holding and moving their feet on the water's surface while holding steady above the water. They remain stationary by hovering with rapid fluttering or using the wind to anchor themselves in place. This method of feeding flight is more commonly used by Oceanitidae storm petrels, however. Northern storm petrels also use
dynamic soaring Dynamic soaring is a flying technique used to gain energy by repeatedly crossing the boundary between air masses of different velocity. Such zones of wind gradient are generally found close to obstacles and close to the surface, so the technique is ...
, gliding across wave fronts gaining
energy Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...
from the vertical
wind gradient In common usage, wind gradient, more specifically wind speed gradient or wind velocity gradient, or alternatively shear wind, is the vertical component of the gradient of the mean horizontal wind speed in the lower atmosphere. It is the rate of ...
.


Diet

The diet of many storm petrels species is poorly known owing to difficulties in researching; overall, the family is thought to concentrate on
crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...
s.Brooke, M. (2004). ''Albatrosses and Petrels Across the World'' Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK Small
fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...
, oil droplets, and molluscs are also taken by many species. Some species are known to be rather more specialised; the
grey-backed storm petrel The grey-backed storm petrel (''Garrodia nereis'') is a species of seabird in the austral storm petrel family Oceanitidae. It is monotypic within the genus ''Garrodia''. It is found in Antarctica, Argentina, Australia, Chile, Falkland Islands, Fr ...
is known to concentrate on the larvae of
goose barnacle Goose barnacles, also called percebes, turtle-claw barnacles, stalked barnacles, gooseneck barnacles, are filter-feeding crustaceans that live attached to hard surfaces of rocks and flotsam in the ocean intertidal zone. Goose barnacles form ...
s. Almost all species forage in the
pelagic zone The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean and can be further divided into regions by depth. The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or water column between the sur ...
. Although storm petrels are capable of swimming well and often form rafts on the water's surface, they do not feed on the water. Instead, feeding usually takes place on the wing, with birds hovering above or "walking" on the surface (see morphology) and snatching small morsels. Rarely, prey is obtained by making shallow dives under the surface. Like many
seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adaptation, adapted to life within the marine ecosystem, marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent ...
s, storm petrels associate with other species of seabirds and marine mammal species to help obtain food. They may benefit from the actions of diving predators such as
seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, also called "true seal" ** Fur seal ** Eared seal * Seal ( ...
s and
penguin Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...
s, which push prey up towards the surface while hunting, allowing the surface-feeding storm petrels to reach them.


Distribution and movements

The Hydrobatidae are mostly found in the Northern Hemisphere. Several species of northern storm petrel undertake migrations after the breeding season, of differing lengths; long ones, such as Swinhoe's storm petrel, which breeds in the west Pacific and migrates to the west Indian Ocean; or shorter ones, such as the black storm petrel, which nests in southern
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
and migrates down the coast of
Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...
as far south as
Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
. Some species, like
Tristram's storm petrel Tristram's storm petrel or ''akihikeehiale'' (''Hydrobates tristrami'') is a species of seabird in the storm petrel family Hydrobatidae. The species' common and scientific name is derived from the English clergyman Henry Baker Tristram; the specie ...
, are thought to be essentially sedentary and do not undertake any migrations away from their breeding islands.


Breeding

Storm petrels nest colonially, for the most part on islands, although a few species breed on the mainland, particularly
Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...
. Nesting sites are attended at night to avoid predators; the
wedge-rumped storm petrel The wedge-rumped storm petrel (''Hydrobates tethys'') is a storm petrel. It breeds in the Galápagos Islands and on the coast of Peru. It was formerly defined in the genus ''Oceanodroma Northern storm petrels are seabirds in the genus ''Hydro ...
s nesting in the Galapagos Islands are the exception to this rule and attend their nesting sites during the day. Storm petrels display high levels of
philopatry Philopatry is the tendency of an organism to stay in or habitually return to a particular area. The causes of philopatry are numerous, but natal philopatry, where animals return to their birthplace to breed, may be the most common. The term derives ...
, returning to their natal colonies to breed. In one instance, a band-rumped storm petrel was caught as an adult 2 m from its natal burrow. Storm petrels nest either in burrows dug into soil or sand, or in small crevices in rocks and scree. Competition for nesting sites is intense in colonies where storm petrels compete with other burrowing petrels, with
shearwater Shearwaters are medium-sized long-winged seabirds in the petrel family Procellariidae. They have a global marine distribution, but are most common in temperate and cold waters, and are pelagic outside the breeding season. Description These tube ...
s having been recorded killing storm petrels to occupy their burrows. Colonies can be extremely large and dense, with densities as high as 8 pairs/m2 for band-rumped storm petrels in the Galapagos and colonies 3.6 million strong for
Leach's storm petrel Leach's storm petrel or Leach's petrel (''Hydrobates leucorhous'') is a small seabird of the tubenose order. It is named after the British zoologist William Elford Leach. The scientific name is derived from Ancient Greek. ''Hydrobates'' is from ...
have been recorded. Storm petrels are
monogamous Monogamy ( ) is a relationship of two individuals in which they form a mutual and exclusive intimate partnership. Having only one partner at any one time, whether for life or serial monogamy, contrasts with various forms of non-monogamy (e.g. ...
and form long-term pair bonds that last a number of years. Studies of paternity using DNA fingerprinting have shown that, unlike many other monogamous birds, infidelity (extra-pair mating) is very rare. As with the other Procellariiformes, a single egg is laid by a pair in a breeding season; if the egg fails, then usually no attempt is made to lay again (although it happens rarely). Both sexes incubate in shifts of up to six days. The egg hatches after 40 or 50 days; the young is brooded continuously for another 7 days or so before being left alone in the nest during the day and fed by regurgitation at night. Meals fed to the chick weigh around 10–20% of the parent's body weight, and consist of both prey items and
stomach oil Stomach oil is the light oil composed of neutral dietary lipids found in the proventriculus (fore-gut) of birds in the order Procellariiformes. All albatrosses, procellarids (gadfly petrels and shearwaters) and northern and austral storm ...
. Stomach oil is an energy-rich (its calorific value is around 9.6 kcal/g) oil created by partly digested prey in a part of the fore gut known as the proventriculus. By partly converting prey items into stomach oil, storm petrels can maximise the amount of energy chicks receive during feeding, an advantage for small seabirds that can only make a single visit to the chick during a 24-hour period (at night). The typical age at which chicks
fledge Fledging is the stage in a flying animal's life between egg, hatching or birth and becoming capable of flight. This term is most frequently applied to birds, but is also used for bats. For altricial birds, those that spend more time in vulnera ...
depends on the species, taking between 50 and 70 days. The time taken to hatch and raise the young is long for the bird's size, but is typical of seabirds, which in general are
K-selected In ecology, selection theory relates to the natural selection, selection of combinations of Trait (biological), traits in an organism that trade off between quantity and quality of offspring. The focus on either an increased quantity of offsprin ...
, living much longer, delaying breeding for longer, and investing more effort into fewer young.Schreiber, Elizabeth A. & Burger, Joanne.(2001.) ''Biology of Marine Birds'', Boca Raton:CRC Press, The young leave their burrows around 62 days. They are independent almost at once and quickly disperse into the ocean. They return to their original colony after 2 or 3 years, but will not breed until at least 4 years old. Storm petrels have been recorded living as long as 30 years.


Threats and conservation

Several species of storm petrel are threatened by human activities. The Guadalupe storm petrel has not been observed since 1906 and most authorities consider it extinct. One species (the
ashy storm petrel The ashy storm petrel (''Hydrobates homochroa'') is a small, scarce seabird of the storm petrel family Hydrobatidae. It breeds colonially on islands off the coasts of California and Mexico, and is one of six species of storm petrel that live and ...
) is listed as endangered by the IUCN due to a 42% decline over 20 years. For the ringed storm petrel, even the sites of their breeding colonies remain a mystery. Storm petrels face the same threats as other
seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adaptation, adapted to life within the marine ecosystem, marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent ...
s; in particular, they are threatened by
introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...
. The Guadalupe storm petrel was driven to extinction by
feral cat A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned domestic cat (''Felis catus'') that lives outdoors and avoids human contact; it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens ...
s, and introduced predators have also been responsible for declines in other species. Habitat degradation, which limits nesting opportunities, caused by introduced goats and pigs is also a problem, especially if it increases competition from more aggressive burrowing petrels.


Cultural representation of the storm petrel

"Petrel" is thought to be a diminutive form of "Peter", a reference to
Saint Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...
, given to these birds because they sometimes appear to walk across the water's surface. The more specific "storm petrel" or "stormy petrel" is a reference to their habit of hiding in the lee of ships during storms.Slotterback, J. W. (2002). Band-rumped Storm Petrel (''Oceanodroma castro'') and Tristram’s Storm-Petrel (''Oceanodroma tristrami''). In ''The Birds of North America'', No. 673 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA. Early sailors named these birds "
Mother Carey Mother Carey is a supernatural figure personifying the cruel and threatening sea in the imagination of 18th- and 19th-century English-speaking sailors. The entity was supposed to be a harbinger of storms and a similar character to Davy Jones (wh ...
's chickens" because they were thought to warn of oncoming storms; this name is based on a corrupted form of ''Mater Cara'', a name for the
Blessed Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...
. Breton folklore holds that storm petrels are the spirits of sea-captains who mistreated their crew, doomed to spend eternity flying over the sea, and they are also held to be the souls of drowned sailors. A sailing superstition holds that the appearance of a storm petrel foretells bad weather. Sinister names from Britain and France include waterwitch, satanite, satanique, and ''oiseau du diable''.


Symbol of revolution

The association of the storm petrel with turbulent weather has led to its use as a metaphor for revolutionary views, the
epithet An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...
"stormy petrel" being applied by various authors to characters as disparate as a
Roman tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs acted as a check on the ...
, a
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
minister in the early Carolinas, an Afghan governor, or an
Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...
politician. Russian revolutionary writer
Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (;  – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (; ), was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an aut ...
bore the epithet "the Stormy Petrel of the Revolution" (''Буревестник Революции''), presumably due to his authorship of the famous 1901 poem " Song of the Stormy Petrel". In "Song of the Stormy Petrel", Gorki turned to the imagery of subantarctic avifauna to describe Russian society's attitudes to the coming revolution. The storm petrel was depicted as unafraid of the coming storm –the revolution. This poem was called "the battle anthem of the revolution", and earned Gorky himself the title of the "Storm Petrel of the Revolution".Mironov (2012) p. 461. While this English translation of the bird's name may not be a very ornithologically accurate translation of the Russian ''burevestnik'' (буревестник),A 1903 edition of
Vladimir Dal Vladimir Ivanovich Dal (, ; 22 November 1801 – 4 October 1872) was a Russians, Russian Lexicography, lexicographer, Multilingualism, speaker of many languages, Turkology, Turkologist, and founding member of the Russian Geographical Society. Du ...
's ''
Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language The ''Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language'' (), commonly known as ''Dal's Explanatory Dictionary'' (), is a major explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. It contains about 220,000 words and 30,000 proverbs (3rd edi ...
'', would define ''burevestnik'' (the name of the bird used by Gorky's in Russian) or a "bird of storm" as a generic name for the
Procellariidae The family (biology), family Procellariidae is a group of seabirds that comprises the fulmarine petrels, the gadfly petrels, the diving petrels, the prion (bird), prions, and the shearwaters. This family is part of the bird order (biology), orde ...
, and would illustrate it with several examples, including the species known in English as the
wandering albatross The snowy albatross (''Diomedea exulans''), also known as the wandering albatross, white-winged albatross, or goonie, is a large seabird from the family Diomedeidae Albatrosses, of the biological family (biology), family Diomedeidae, are la ...
,
southern giant petrel The southern giant petrel (''Macronectes giganteus''), also known as the Antarctic giant petrel, giant fulmar, stinker, and stinkpot, is a large seabird of the southern oceans. Its distribution overlaps broadly with the similar northern giant pe ...
,
northern fulmar The northern fulmar (''Fulmarus glacialis''), fulmar, or Arctic fulmar is an abundant seabird found primarily in subarctic regions of the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans. There has been one confirmed sighting in the Southern Hemisphere, ...
, and European storm petrel. The actual Russian species name for the European storm petrel, according to the same dictionary, is ''kachurka'', rather than an
adjective phrase An adjective phrase (or adjectival phrase) is a phrase whose Head (linguistics), head is an adjective. Almost any grammar or syntax textbook or dictionary of linguistics terminology defines the adjective phrase in a similar way, e.g. Kesner Bland ( ...
with ''burevestnik''. See the entry Буря ("storm") in: (This is a modern reprint (using modernized Russian orthography) of the 1903 edition, which would have been familiar to Gorky and his readers).
it is poetically appropriate, as ''burevestnik'' literally means "the announcer of the storm". To honour Gorky and his work, the name '' Burevestnik'' was bestowed on a variety of institutions, locations, and products in the
USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. The motif of the stormy petrel has a long association with revolutionary anarchism. Various groups adopted the bird's name, either as a group identifier, as in the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
,Christie (2005) p. 43. or for their publications. "Stormy Petrel" was the title of a German anarchist paper of the late 19th century; it was also the name of a Russian exile anarchist communist group operating in Switzerland in the early 20th century. ''The Stormy Petrel'' ('' Burevestnik'') was the title of the magazine of the Anarchist Communist Federation in Russia around the time of the
1905 revolution The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a revolution in the Russian Empire which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Russian Constitution of 1906, t ...
,Yaroslansky (1937
Introduction
and is still an imprint of the London group of the Anarchist Federation of Britain and Ireland. Writing in 1936,
Emma Goldman Emma Goldman (June 27, 1869 – May 14, 1940) was a Russian-born Anarchism, anarchist revolutionary, political activist, and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europ ...
referred to
Buenaventura Durruti José Buenaventura Durruti Dumange (14 July 1896 – 20 November 1936) was a Spanish anarchist revolutionary involved with the CNT and the FAI in the periods before and during the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939. Durruti played an influe ...
as "this stormy petrel of the anarchist and revolutionary movement".


References


External links


Storm petrel videos
on the Internet Bird Collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Storm Petrel Taxa named by Friedrich Boie * Seabirds