Night surveys and smell, a mixed method to detect colonies of storm petrel Hydrobates pelagicus
Storm-petrels usually breed in sites difficult to access, making it hard to estimate the number of individuals in a colony or even the presence of a colony. After several years of study in the main colony and diurnal surveys to other caves of the island, we planned an extensive night survey for identifying previously unknown colonies. In the breeding season of 2011 we found 5 new colonies of storm petrels (Hydrobates pelagicus) at Marettimo island, increasing the estimation of the population on this island to approximately 3000 breeding pairs. We propose the use of mixed methods to locate new colonies, as they can be found by the characteristic smell of storm petrels, but under windy condit…
Sexual dichromatism in Mediterranean storm petrels Hydrobates pelagicus melitensis.
We propose the use of a non-invasive technique for sexing the Mediterranean subspecies of the European storm petrel Hydrobates pelagicus melitensis. We found that this subspecies shows sexual dimorphism in rump band width and wing length. Fast and cheap sex identification methods can improve conservation programs and population studies of this species.