Hydrobates matsudairae
Matsudaira's Storm Petrel (Hydrobates matsudairae) is a striking pelagic seabird distinguished by its overall sooty dark brown to black plumage, with a subtle but distinctive paler shaft to the outer primaries, especially visible on the upperwing. A relatively large storm-petrel, it measures about 24-25 cm in length with a wingspan of 46-56 cm, and possesses a noticeably long, deeply forked tail that often appears squared-off in flight. It belongs to the family Hydrobatidae, within the order ...
Exclusively pelagic, inhabiting the open ocean, it only comes ashore to breed on remote, often volcanic, oceanic islands.
Primarily consists of small fish, squid, and various crustaceans (especially euphausiids), often supplemented by surface oils and offal.
Matsudaira's Storm Petrels are primarily nocturnal at their breeding colonies, an adaptation to avoid predation by gulls and raptors, engaging in courtship and chick-feeding under the cover of darkness. At sea, they exhibit a characteristic surface-feeding behavior, pattering their feet on the wa...
Matsudaira's Storm Petrel has a highly specialized breeding range confined to a few remote, oceanic islands in the Northwestern Pacific, primarily Kita Iwo Jima and Minami Iwo Jima within Japan's Volcano and Ogasawara Islands. Following the breeding season, it embarks on an extensive trans-equato...
Least Concern
- Matsudaira's Storm Petrel is one of the few storm-petrels that undertakes a regular and extensive migration into the Indian Ocean from its Pacific breeding grounds. - It is named after Japanese ornithologist Yorihiko Matsudaira, who first collected the species in 1920s off Okinawa. - Its distin...