A new addition to the Tubenose Challenge!

Photographed by Peter Harrison

With all the excitement of The Tubenose Challenge (TTC), it is great to hear that a new species of Storm-petrel has been discovered off the coast of Chile.

Discovered by Peter Harrison, with 12 birds being caught off the coast of Puerto Montt, Chile on 18, 19 and 21 February 2011. Peter Harrison first observed 2 museum specimens that were considered to be the first record of Elliot's Storm Petrel Oceanites gracilis galapagoensis, but Harrison believed these to be previously unobserved taxons.

A voyage off the coast of Chile saw the 12 birds to be captured with net guns (established for the rediscovery of New-Zealand Storm-petrel) with measurement and photographs taken proving these individuals to be the same as the museum specimens.
The Puerto Montt Storm-petrel was born...

To read more, visit:

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/harrison-petrel.html#cr

http://birdingblogs.com/2011/szimi/another-new-storm-petrel-discovered

http://www.sofnet.org/apps/file.asp?Path=1&ID=6447&File=A+New+Species+of+Seabird_Peter+Harrison+Feb+2011+%281%29.pdf

A huge thankyou to Dave McGrath for the 'heads up' of this new discovery and hopefully in the future, I won't have to 'robb' someone elses photograph of the Puerto Montt Storm-petrel. Hopefully I will get to use my own!

Tubenose Challenge - 138 species...and counting!

(Quick TTC update - 2011's tour (Chapter 1.0) is almost booked - Isles of Scilly Pelagic, with target species being: Great Shearwater, Sooty Shearwater, Wilson's Storm-petrel, aswell as the previously seen Procellariiformes (for photographs) and Cory's Shearwater of the race borealis, in case of the future split of the Atlantic and Mediterannean populaions)