Desertas Petrel

Pterodroma deserta Mathews, 1934

Desertas Petrel, Pterodroma deserta, is a petrel of the Atlantic Ocean that breeds in summer on Bugio in the Desertas Islands south-east of Madeira, in Macaronesia west of northern Africa. Outside the breeding season it ranges to the Gulf Stream off North Carolina and to waters west of Ireland. It was described by Mathews in 1934. Among the Pterodroma petrels, it is part of a group that is hard to separate from close relatives, and its bill depth is the largest of the three forms in the feae, madeira and deserta complex.

Order

Procellariiformes

Family

Procellariidae — Petrels, Shearwaters, Diving Petrels

Breeding range

Atlantic Ocean: summer breeder on Bugio (Desertas Is., se of Madeira, c Macaronesia, w of n Africa)

Nonbreeding range

to Gulf Stream off North Carolina (nw Atlantic Ocean) and w of Ireland (ne Atlantic)