The least storm petrel (''Hydrobates microsoma'') is a small

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 ...

of the

storm petrel Storm petrel or stormy petrel may refer to one of two bird family (biology), families, both in the order Procellariiformes, once treated as the same family. The two families are: * Northern storm petrels (''Hydrobatidae'') are found in the No ...

family

Hydrobatidae Northern storm petrels are seabirds in the genus ''Hydrobates'' in the Family (biology), family Hydrobatidae, part of the order Procellariiformes. The family was once Lumpers and splitters, lumped with the similar austral storm petrels in the co ...

. It is 13–15 cm in length, with a wingspan of 32 cm. It is the smallest member 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 ...

. It was formerly defined in the genus ''

Oceanodroma Northern storm petrels are seabirds in the genus ''Hydrobates'' in the family Hydrobatidae, part of the order Procellariiformes. The family was once lumped with the similar austral storm petrels in the combined storm petrels, but have been spl ...

'' before that genus was synonymized with '' Hydrobates''. It breeds on islands off the Baja Peninsula and

Gulf of California The Gulf of California (), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Vermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja California peninsula from ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

in rock crevices or small burrows in soft earth and lays a single white

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

.The single egg that this bird lays is white with a wreath of fine black specks around one and sometimes both ends. Like most petrels, its walking ability is limited to a short shuffle to the burrow. It is a colonial nester. It spends the rest of the year at sea, reaching as far south as the tropical

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. It frequently can be seen well offshore of 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 ...

in late summer and autumn. It feeds on mainly

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 ...

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, with a preference of

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e of spiny lobsters. It feeds similarly to other storm petrels, picking food off the surface of the water while in flight. The least storm petrel suffers losses on some of the breeding islands, particularly from feral

cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

s and

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 ...

References

* "National Geographic" ''Field Guide to the Birds of North'' ''America'' *'' Seabirds, an Identification Guide'' by Peter Harrison, (1983) *''Handbook of the Birds of the World Vol 1'', Josep del Hoyo editor, *"National Audubon Society" ''The Sibley Guide to Birds'', by David Allen Sibley,

External links

Least Storm-Petrel ''Oceanodroma microsoma''
- VIREO {{Taxonbar, from=Q27074593 least storm petrel least storm petrel Birds of Mexico Birds of Central America Birds of Colombia Birds of Ecuador least storm petrel least storm petrel least storm petrel least storm petrel least storm petrel least storm petrel