Hydrobates macrodactylus
A poignant symbol of avian loss, the Guadalupe Storm Petrel (Hydrobates macrodactylus) was a small, pelagic seabird endemic to Mexico's Guadalupe Island. Measuring approximately 19-21 cm in length with a wingspan around 46 cm, this delicate petrel possessed a uniformly sooty-blackish plumage, often appearing brownish, accented by a subtle, pale diagonal bar across its upperwing. Its relatively long, deeply forked tail was another identifying characteristic, helping to distinguish it from simi...
This pelagic species inhabited the open ocean for foraging, returning exclusively to Guadalupe Island off the coast of Baja California, Mexico, to breed in burrows among dense island vegetation.
Its diet consisted primarily of small marine invertebrates, such as crustaceans, larval fish, and possibly small cephalopods, often gleaned from the ocean surface or just below.
Details of the Guadalupe Storm Petrel's specific behavioral repertoire are largely inferred from historical observations and related storm petrel species due to its rarity and subsequent extinction. On its breeding grounds, it was strictly nocturnal, arriving and departing its burrows under the c...
The Guadalupe Storm Petrel had an extremely restricted breeding range, being known to nest exclusively on Guadalupe Island, located off the western coast of Baja California, Mexico. This isolated volcanic island provided the essential burrowing habitat within its dense vegetation zones. Historica...
Extinct
- The Guadalupe Storm Petrel was last definitively observed alive in 1912, making it one of the earliest documented extinctions due to introduced species on an isolated island. - Feral cats, introduced to Guadalupe Island, were directly responsible for the extinction of this petrel, preying on ad...