GRANT'S BAND-RUMPED STORM-PETREL Hydrobates castro

Some authors have put this complex in a seperate genus, Thalobata, and one of the commonest taxa is that breeding in the Eastern Atlantic in winter, from Portugal to the Azores and Canaries. It disperses to the western seaboard of the USA, and is commonly found on pelagics from North Carolina, where these birds were taken. However, it has never been formally described, even as a subspecies, so remains a Madeiran Storm-petrel. Difficult to distinguish unless a direct comparison is possible, where Madeiran is smaller and lighter with a faster flight action, separation is usually possible by moult timing, and it has been informally described in all modern seabird books.


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