The Leach's Storm-Petrel is a dainty seabird of both the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. It spends most of its year at sea, coming to land only to breed in colonies on remote islands. It hides its single egg in crevice or burrow, and only moves to and from the nest at night to avoid detection by predators.
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There are two populations of Leach's Storm-Petrel in North America, along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. The Canadian portion of the Pacific population has about one million individuals breeding on small islands off the coast of British Columbia. This population is poorly monitored, and its status is data deficient. In contrast, the Atlantic population of approximately 5.3 million has been monitored closely, with the Seabird Colony Monitoring Program providing high confidence in a large decrease since 1982. This Canadian population represents 91% of the total North Atlantic total, and thus a very high level of Canadian responsibility. The Atlantic population is designated Threatened by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC, 2020), and is below its goal range.
Assessing the population of this species is difficult. The world's largest known breeding colony is on Baccalieu Island off Newfoundland's east coast. A recent analysis of data from the Seabird Colony Monitoring Program at Baccalieu and other Atlantic Canada colonies showed a large decrease of 51% since 1984, with the majority of the decline occurring between 1990 and 2010. Confidence is high because coverage is good, precision in the trend is high, and the survey effort is specifically targeted to the population. The Atlantic Canada population is approximately five times larger than the Pacific so the national population has likely undergone at least a moderate decrease, but because of the lack of monitoring in the Pacific, confidence in the status is only moderate.
The goal for the Atlantic population of the Leach's Storm-Petrel is to increase the population to the level it was at in the mid-1980s, based on the Seabird Colony Monitoring Program. Trend data show that this population is currently below its goal range, but it has been relatively stable over the past decade. Analysis of recent trends and potential growth rates suggests that Leach's Storm-Petrel could reach its population goal by 2050 with the support of conservation action.
Designation | Geographic Area | Status | CITATION | Subpopulation |
---|---|---|---|---|
COSEWIC | Canada | Threatened | Atlantic population | |
Wild Species | Canada | Apparently secure | ||
IUCN | Global | Vulnerable |
- COSEWIC. 2020c. COSEWIC assessment and status report on the Leach’s Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma leucorhoa) Atlantic population in Canada 2020. https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/species-risk-public-registry/cosewic-assessments-status-reports/leachs-storm-petrel-2020.html.
The Leach's Storm-Petrel is a dainty seabird of both the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. It spends most of its year at sea, coming to land only to breed in colonies on remote islands. It hides its single egg in crevice or burrow, and only moves to and from the nest at night to avoid detection by predators.
Leach's Storm-Petrel is primarily reported between May and November in Canada, with far fewer observations during winter when the birds are at sea.