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José Luis Orgeira (Instituto Antártico Argentino, Buenos Aires, Argentina) and colleagues, writing open-access in the journal Polar Research, report on new record of pelagic seabirds from the Southern Ocean.

The paper’s abstract follows:

During ship-based seabird surveys in the south Atlantic and Antarctica in the austral summers of 1994/95, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, we documented at-sea distributions of Buller’s albatross (Thalassarche bulleri), Atlantic petrel (Pterodroma incerta), soft-plumaged petrel (Pterodroma mollis), Kerguelen petrel (Lugensa brevirostris) and great-winged petrel (Pterodroma macroptera).  In some cases, sightings were considered as extralimital, but for other species updating their distributions in the literature seems warranted.  Atlantic petrel, for example, has been regularly observed in the Drake Passage and north of the Antarctic Peninsula for about 30 years, but the distribution of this species has not been updated in the literature.  The observations reported here will contribute to update the at-sea distributions of these species and to changes in their distributions.”

Buller's Albatross.  Photograph by Paul Sagar

Reference:

José Luis Orgeira, J.J., Scioscia, G., Torres, M.A. & Dellabianca, N.A. 2013.  New at-sea records of pelagic seabirds in the South Atlantic Ocean and Antarctica.  Polar Research 32.   http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/polar.v32i0.18972.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 17 July 2013