Menu

Volume 50, No. 2

Search by author or title:

Observations of leucistic ʻUaʻu (Hawaiian Petrel Pterodroma sandwichensis) on Lānaʻi, Hawaiʻi


Authors

ANDRÉ F. RAINE1 & RACHEL S. SPRAGUE2
1Archipelago Research & Conservation, PO Box 81, Hanapepe, Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi 96741, USA (andreraine@arckauai.com)
2Pulama Lānaʻi, PO Box 630310, Lānaʻi City, Hawaiʻi 96763, USA

Citation

RAINE, A.F. & SPRAGUE, R.S. 2022. Observations of leucistic ʻUaʻu (Hawaiian Petrel Pterodroma sandwichensis) on Lānaʻi, Hawaiʻi. Marine Ornithology 50: 129 - 131

Received 19 November 2021, accepted 13 April 2022

Date Published: 2022/10/15
Date Online: 2022/09/22
Key words: Hawaiian Petrel, leucism, seabird, Lānaʻi, Pterodroma

Abstract

The ʻUaʻu (Hawaiian Petrel Pterodroma sandwichensis) is an endangered petrel endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. In this short paper, we describe two cases of Hawaiian Petrels with leucistic plumage recorded on the island of Lānaʻi. In both cases, the birds were chicks that fledged successfully in different years from the same burrow. There is only one other documented case of leucism recorded for this species in the Hawaiian Islands despite intensive monitoring of petrel burrows on Kauaʻi, Lānaʻi, and Maui over the last few decades, highlighting the rarity of this plumage aberration.

References


AL-ABBAR, F., SANTOS COUTO SILVA, M. & GEELHOED, S.C.V. 2019. Leucistic Cory's Shearwater Calonectris borealis off São Miguel, Azores, in November 2019. Seabird 32: 119-121.

BLYTH, M. 2020. When Black Noddies Aren't Black. Birding April: 56-61.

HODGES, C.S.N. & NAGATA, R.J., SR. 2001. Effects of predator control on the survival and breeding success of the endangered Hawaiian Dark-rumped Petrel. Studies in Avian Biology 22: 308-318.

LEVINSON, P.M., SCHMIDT, A.E., MORANDINI, V., ELROD, M., JONGSOMJIT, D. & BALLARD, G. 2021. Breeding behaviour of colour-aberrant Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) at Cape Crozier, Ross Island, Antarctica. Antarctic Science 33: 335-343. doi:10.1017/S0954102021000158

MANCINI, P.L., JIMÉNEZ, S., NEVES, T. & BUGONI, L. 2010. Records of leucism in albatrosses and petrels (Procellariiformes) in the South Atlantic Ocean. Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia 18: 245-248.

PYLE, R.L. & PYLE, P. 2017. The Birds of the Hawaiian Islands: Occurrence, History, Distribution, and Status, Version 2. Honolulu, USA: BP Bishop Museum. [Accessed at http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/birds/rlp-monograph on 29 October 2021.]

RAINE, A.F., DRISKILL, S., VYNNE, M., HARVEY, D. & PIAS, K. 2020. Managing the effects of introduced predators on Hawaiian endangered seabirds. The Journal of Wildlife Management 84: 425-435. doi:10.1002/jwmg.21824

SIMONS, T.R. 1985. Biology and behavior of the endangered Hawaiian Dark-rumped Petrel. The Condor 87: 229-245. doi:10.2307/1366887

VAN GROUW, H.J., RUSSELL, S. & MERNE, O.J. 2011. Notes on colour aberrations in Common Guillemot Uria aalge and Northern Gannet Morus bassanus. Seabird 24: 33-41.

Search by author or title:

Browse previous volumes: