ML611815696

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Tags

Dead

Media notes

Photo by April Stiltz.

Observation details

This bird was found exhausted but alive at Stovepipe Wells, DVNP, Inyo County on 21 August 2023 by April Stiltz in the wake of Tropical Storm Hilary. The bird was cared for but did not live through the night. The specimen was provided to the San Diego Natural History Museum for inclusion in their Ornithological Collection. Of note is another Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel was observed at Panamint Springs on the same day, as well as others scattered throughout interior Southern California. These two records are the first occurrence of the species in Inyo County. From Philip Unitt, Curator, Department of Birds and Mammals, San Diego Natural History Museum on 1 Nov 2023: "I received the Death Valley specimen of the Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel yesterday and prepared it today, as SDNHM 57662: study skin, partial skeleton, and tissue sample for archiving at SDSU. When I weighed the specimen, I was startled to get a result of only 10.2 grams; specimens from the species’ normal range in our collection are at 21-27 grams, and the Victorville specimen was 17.8. So I was afraid the carcass might be dehydrated, but once it was thawed I found it was only moderately so, not enough to interfere with the skinning. Clearly emaciated—no fat. Like the Victorville specimen it was in moderate body molt but unlike the Victorville specimen it was not molting any primaries. It was a female with the ovary appearing only slightly granular so I conclude it was an immature that had not previously ovulated. I was surprised to see so much white on the undertail coverts; only one other of the 11 other skins of the Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel in our collection has close to as much white in this area. The extensively white undertail coverts have black shafts like the white uppertail coverts. I didn’t realize that the bases of the rectrices have distinct white patches, mainly on the inner webs, but on another specimen whose rectrices were removed and glued to a board the same pattern is evident so is apparently standard for the Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel. With a total length of 149 mm, wingspread 357 mm, and wing chord 120 mm, the Death Valley specimen is even smaller than the Victorville specimen so seems clearly to represent the small Peruvian subspecies kelsalli, in agreement with the previous California specimens."

Technical information

Dimensions

2776 pixels x 2082 pixels

Original file size

2.49 MB