Petrels, Albatrosses, and Storm-Petrels of North America: A Photographic Guide [Hardcover]

List of Species Covered xi

Preface xiii

Acknowledgments xv

How to Use This Book xvii

Format of the Species Accounts xvii

Introduction 1

What Are Tubenoses? 1

Ocean Habitats 5

Current Systems 6

Thermoclines, Upwelling, and Fronts 6

Habitat Associations 10

Phylogeny, Biogeography, and Vagrancy 13

Taxonomy and an Identification Framework 14

Family Procellariidae: Petrels 17

Family Diomedeidae: Albatrosses 19

Family Hydrobatidae: Northern Storm-Petrels 20

Family Oceanitidae: Southern Storm-Petrels 21

Field Identification of Tubenoses 21

Age, Sex, Individual, and Geographic Variation 21

Flight Manner 24

Environmental Factors 28

Appearance and Topography 30

Molts, Plumages, and Aging 38

How to See Tubenoses 45

Conservation 46

Threats to Seabirds 47

Seabirds as Indicators 48

Species Accounts 51-454

Abbreviations and Terminology 455

Appendix

A. Recently Extinct Species 459

Appendix B. Hypothetical Records 461

Literature Cited 463

Index 481