16/11/2024
Here is one of the least known birds in South America, the Pincoya Storm-Petrel from Chiloe, Chile. I helped to describe this species just over 10 years ago, and we still know essentially nothing about it. The nesting grounds are a bit closer to being found. They seem to be resident in the Chiloe area, and there are not huge numbers of them. On our Heart And Soul trip of Chile we did a concerted pelagic to try and find them, it was a success although a bit choppy and the birds were elusive. At first I was a bit troubled and confused, as the birds we were seeing were not "standard" looking with the big bold white underparts. The features that were there on these birds were the bold whitish ulnar bar, and the white stripe on the underwing, and white on the outer vane of the outer tail feather. There is also a pale tone to the brown body plumage on the back and the lower breast/belly. This bird seems to have two new primaries and worn inners. Wear and molt needs to be assessed and sorted in terms of overall appearance. It seems like some of the "classic" birds are actually juveniles, and perhaps white on belly varies depending on age? All information that needs to be sorted out. Nevertheless, the newly described Andean Storm-Petrel which is to the north of this species is quite dull on the ulnar (upperwing) bar, and has a restricted but noticeable two pale lines on the underwing, not a white stripe on the inner part of the underwing. Andean can have pale on the belly, sometimes not, but most have some white flecking there. Little by little we are learning. Thanks to https://quilun.cl/ Quilun Ecoturismo for making our trip possible!
