Blue Petrels Halobaena caerulea discovered breeding on Gough Island
The Blue Petrel Halobaena caerulea breeds at five subantarctic island groups and at islands off southern Chile in a narrow latitudinal band from 47° to 56° S on either side of the Antarctic Polar Front. We found a colony on Gough Island (40° S, 10° W), central
South Atlantic Ocean, more than 700 km north of its known breeding range. Breeding appears to take place later than at colonies farther south. Although the colony is in a fairly frequently visited part of the island, it might have been overlooked rather than representing a recent range extension.
Keywords: Blue Petrel; Gough Island; northward expansion; subantarctic
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: 1: Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST–NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa 2: RSPB Centre for Conservation Science, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Sandy, UK
Publication date: 04 May 2015
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