Wave runner (type)
| Wave runner | ||||||||||
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Wave runner |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Oceanodroma leucorhoa | ||||||||||
| ( Vieillot , 1818) |
The wave runner ( Oceanodroma leucorhoa ) is one of 13 species of the wave runner species worldwide . The wave runners owe their name to the behavior of gliding close to the water with their legs hanging down. They dip their feet into the water.
The wave runner is a breeding and annual bird on the western European coasts. It can be observed regularly on the coasts of Central Europe, but it is a very rare exceptional guest on the Baltic Sea and inland.
Morphology and characteristics
With a body length of 18 to 21 cm, the wave runner is slightly larger than the petrel . The weight averages between 40 and 50 g. The wingspan is 45 to 50 cm. Wave runners have a dark gray-brown plumage. The wing and tail feathers are a little darker. The rump is white with a dark center line. The feet are black. The wings are long, pointed, angled and curved in flight. The underside of the wing is a little darker than the upper side of the wing. Wave runners differ from petrels mainly in their forked tail. In addition, unlike the petrel, they have a light band on the upper side of the wing. The wing beats are quickly tern-like. Flight is characterized by irregular body rotations and frequent changes in altitude and speed. Unlike the petrel, they don't follow ships.
distribution
Wave runners have a large area of distribution. It stretches across the entire North Atlantic, the Western Pacific and the Eastern Pacific from the Aleutian Islands to Baja California . The European breeding colonies are located on a few islands in northwestern Europe, such as the Lofoten , Faroe Islands , Iceland , Ireland and the west coast of Great Britain . The West Atlantic breeding colonies stretch from Labrador to Maine and Massachusetts . The European breeding populations leave the breeding area from September to November and move south of the equator off the coasts of Namibia and South Africa . They return to their breeding grounds between April and May. In Germany you can rarely see the birds in the North Sea , and very rarely in the Baltic Sea .
Way of life
Wave runners spend most of their lives at sea. Like many other seabirds, they only come ashore to breed.
Reproduction
Nesting takes place from April to June, mostly in burrows on rocky plateaus near the coast or in hollows of rocks. The burrows are dug with their feet by males. The beak is used to loosen up the earth. The diameter of the entrance cavity is about 6 to 7 cm, the length about 50 cm. At the end of the cave is the nesting chamber padded with plant material, which has a diameter of about 16 cm.
A single white egg with a slightly reddish-brown dotted egg at the thicker end is placed in the nesting chamber. The breeding period averages 41 days. The birds peel off during incubation. The young are able to fly at 63 to 70 days. During the breeding season, the otherwise mute birds communicate with clattering cooing noises.
food
The food consists of large plankton found on the ocean surface , crustaceans , small fish, squid , jellyfish and oil . The birds peck the prey in flight from the surface of the sea. The foraging for food takes place mainly during the day.
Enemies
The enemies of the wave walkers mainly include birds of prey , skuas and owls . To protect the clutch from skuas, the animals only return to their nesting holes at night during the breeding season.
Life expectancy
The life expectancy of the animals in the wild is between 20 and 24 years.
Duration
The worldwide population is estimated at about 8 million individuals (M. Crosby in litt . 2003) . Most of the world’s breeding population is located on the uninhabited Canadian Baccalieu Island with more than 3 million breeding pairs . The largest European occurrences are on Iceland (80,000–150,000 pairs) and on the coasts of Great Britain (36,400–64,900 pairs). The populations of wave walkers are clearly declining and are rated “ Vulnerable ” in the IUCN Red List .
swell
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hans-Günther Bauer, Einhard Bezzel and Wolfgang Fiedler (eds.): The compendium of birds in Central Europe: Everything about biology, endangerment and protection. Volume 1: Nonpasseriformes - non-sparrow birds , Aula-Verlag Wiebelsheim, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-89104-647-2 , p. 207
- ^ A b Leach's Storm-Petrel - Whatbird.com
- ↑ Leach's Storm-petrel (Oceanodroma leucorhoa) ( Memento of December 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Markus Kappeler Zoologist - Text Collection
- ↑ a b http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/factsheet/22698511
- ↑ Baccalieu Island Ecological Reserve - Overview ( Memento of February 1, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/BirdsInEuropeII/BiE2004Sp3980.pdf
literature
- Rob Hume: Birds in Europe . Dorling Kindersley Verlag, 2007 ISBN 978-3-8310-0991-6
- Erwin Stresemann: Excursion fauna Germany . Gustav Fischer Verlag Jena, 1995 ISBN 3-334-60951-0
Web links
- Hydrobates leucorhous onthe IUCN Red List of Endangered Species .
- Videos, photos and sound recordings about Oceanodroma leucorhoa in the Internet Bird Collection
- Page with audio file of the wave runner call