(formerly Scaled Petrel)Pterodroma inexpectata In early April 1880, a farm laborer near Mt. Morris was plowing an old cornfield when he noticed a bird “running in a freshly-turned furrow.” The laborer “dispatched” the bird with a stick. “It was apparently exhausted, for it made no attempt to escape.” (B&M, p.88) And thus occurred one of the most startling records in our region. The bird was a Mottled Petrel. Background This is a so-called “gadfly petrel” that breeds on New Zealand’s offshore islands, then migrates northeast across the Pacific to the Gulf of Alaska and, rarely, to the West Coast as far south as California. Peter Harrison describes its flight as “wild and impetuous, swinging high over ocean in vigorous, bounding arcs.” It has also been found off North Carolina. (Harrison, pp. 241-242) Status Exotic visitant Occurrence The 1880 record was the only occurrence in our region. How it ended up in a cornfield in upstate New York is anybody’s guess. However, Mitchell later checked with the Buffalo weather station and learned “there was an intense storm during the first week of April 1880. High winds from the south and southeast along the Atlantic Coast verified gale warnings from Fort Macon to Sandy Hook . . . this was during the period April 3-5, 1880.” (B&M: 88)The date the specimen was taken was “probably not far from the fifth of the month.”
Wilson’s Storm-Petrel
Oceanites oceanicus “The best way to see Wilson’s Storm Petrels,” John Bull advised, “is to board a fishing boat and spend time ‘chumming’ well offshore. With luck, numbers ranging from a few individuals to hundreds may be enticed close to the boat by the odoriferous lure.” (Bull, p. 63). This sea bird, abundant off New York’s coast, rarely wanders inland, but should be watched for whenever remnants of hurricanes move into our area from the East Coast. The only conclusive Monroe County record was found under just such circumstances by Gordon Meade off Ontario Beach Park on 25 September 1938 “a few days after the hurricane which struck Long Island and New England with terrific force” (B&M: 89; WBR, 3 October 1938) Background These widespread, highly pelagic birds often bound along just above the ocean, pattering the surface with their feet while feeding. They breed in the southern hemisphere, from South Georgia, the Falklands, Tierrra del Fuego, off Cape Horn and suitable sections of the Antarctic coastline, then migrating north of the equator with many reaching seas off New England coasts in April and May, notes Peter Harrison in Seabirds: An Identification Guide. (Harrison, p. 268) Status Exotic, very rare visitant Occurrence Meade’s bird was the only accepted record in our region. Note: Edson and Bull give the date as 25 September, B&M say it was 26 September, and AL 28 September.Bull questioned a specimen Eaton says was taken at Monroe County in November 1882 (Bull, p. 64; see Eaton I: Monroe County list).