eBook

Petrels, albatrosses, and storm-petrels of North America

Steve N. G. Howell

2012

Overview

Petrels, albatrosses, and storm-petrels are among the most beautiful yet least known of all the world's birds, living their lives at sea far from the sight of most people. Largely colored in shades of gray, black, and white, these enigmatic and fast-flying seabirds can be hard to differentiate, particularly from a moving boat. Useful worldwide, not just in North America, this photographic guide is based on unrivaled field experience and combines insightful text and hundreds of full-color images to help you identify these remarkable birds. The first book of its kind, this guide features an introduction that explains ocean habitats and the latest developments in taxonomy. Detailed species accounts describe key identification features such as flight manner, plumage variation related to age and molt, seasonal occurrence patterns, and migration routes. Species accounts are arranged into groups helpful for field identification, and an overview of unique identification challenges is provided for each group. The guide also includes distribution maps for regularly occurring species as well as a bibliography, glossary, and appendixes. The first state-of-the-art photographic guide to these enigmatic seabirdsIncludes hundreds of full-color photos throughoutFeatures detailed species accounts that describe flight, plumage, distribution, and moreProvides overviews of ocean habitats, taxonomy, and conservationOffers tips on how to observe and identify birds at sea

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Subject: Albatross / Albatrosses -- North America -- Identification / Aleutian Islands / American Museum of Natural History / Animals / Atlantic Ocean / Bering Sea / Bermuda petrel / Biological Sciences / Bird / BirdLife International / Birds / Black petrel / Black-browed albatross / Black-capped petrel / Black-footed albatross / Blue-gray / Bulwer's petrel / California Academy of Sciences / Chatham albatross / Christmas shearwater / Continental shelf / Cook's petrel / European storm petrel / Fea's petrel / Fledge / Flight feather / Flying fish / Gadfly petrel / Galápagos Islands / Gulf of Alaska / Gulf of Mexico / Hawaiian petrel / Henderson petrel / Herald petrel / Humboldt Current / Identification / Illustration / Indian Ocean / Jamaican petrel / Kermadec petrel / Laysan albatross / Little shearwater / Manx shearwater / Maureen / Mollymawk / Mottled petrel / Moulting / Murphy's petrel / Museum of Natural Sciences / Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County / NATURE / NATURE / Animals / Birds / NATURE / Regional / NATURE / Birdwatching Guides / North America / Northern fulmar / Ocean / Ornithology / Pacific Ocean / Pelagic zone / Petrels / Petrels -- North America -- Identification / Phoebetria / Pictorial works / Plumage / Procellariidae / Procellariidae -- Identification / Procellariidae -- Pictorial works / Procellariiformes / Procellariiformes -- North America -- Identification / Regional / Salvin's albatross / Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History / Seabird / Shy albatross / Smithsonian Institution / Sooty albatross / Sooty shearwater / Species / Storm petrel / Storm petrels -- North America -- Identification / Tahiti petrel / Trindade petrel / Wandering albatross / Wedge-tailed shearwater / Wing chord (biology) / Zino's petrel / Zoology
• ISBN: 0691142114, 9780691142111, 9781400839629, 1400839629