Aberrantly plumaged White-chinned Petrels get spotted off Brazil

Guilherme Frainer (Laboratório de Sistemática e Ecologia de Aves e Mamíferos Marinhos, Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil) and colleagues have published in the journal Marine Biodiversity Records on three aberrantly plumaged White-chinned Petrels Procellaria aequinoctialis.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“We report on three aberrantly plumaged White-chinned Petrels Procellaria aequinoctialis from the Brazilian Economic Exclusive Zone in the south-west Atlantic Ocean – the first reports based upon tangible evidence for the region.  Two of them showed a low degree of colour aberration (some white around the eyes and on the upper-wing coverts), whereas the third exhibited the highest degree of plumage aberration so far reported for the species: a plumage mostly white with brown freckles on the upper- and under-parts, head and nape.  We also commented on problems related to at-sea identification of aberrantly plumaged seabirds.”

Normally-plumaged White-chinned Petrels, photograph by Ben Phalan 

Reference:

Guilherme Frainer, G., Daudt, N.W. & Carlos, C.J. 2015.  Aberrantly plumaged White-chinned Petrels Procellaria aequinoctialis in the Brazilian waters, south-west Atlantic Ocean.  Marine Biodiversity Records 8.  DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1755267215000871.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 22 July 2015