swinhoes storm petrel

The only all-dark storm-petrel recorded from the subcontinent. Has pale band across greater upperwing-covert, angular wings(with pronounced carpal bend), and shallowly forked tail. Has fast, swooping flight with some bounding and gliding.(Matsudaira's Storm-petrel Oceanadroma matsudairae, which winters in the Indian Ocean but not recorded in the region, is larger, has longer and broader wings, more pronounced tail fork, slower flight action with lazy flapping interspersed with prolonged gliding, and has distinct white patch at base of primaries.)

This storm petrel is strictly nocturnal at the breeding sites to avoid predation by gulls and skuas, and will even avoid coming to land on clear moonlit nights. Like most petrels, its walking ability is limited to a short shuffle to the burrow. It is strictly pelagic outside the breeding season, and this, together with its remote breeding sites, makes Swinhoe's petrel a difficult bird to see from land. Only in storms might this species be pushed into headlands, but even then an out of range bird would probably defy definite identification. It feeds mainly on the wing by dipping and does not patter.

They feed on small fish and shrimp

Swinhoe's storm petrel or Swinhoe's petrel (Hydrobates monorhis) is a small all-brown seabird of the storm petrel family Hydrobatidae. It breeds on islands in the northwest Pacific off the Russian Far East China Japan and Korea. It nests in colonies close to the sea in rock crevices and lays a single white egg. It spends the rest of the year at sea ranging into the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. Swinhoe's storm petrel is a small bird 18&ndash21 cm in length with a 45&ndash48 cm wingspan though distinctly larger than the European storm petrel. It is essentially dark brown in all plumages and has a fluttering flight pattering on the water surface as it picks planktonic food items from the ocean surface. Unlike the European storm petrel it does not follow ships.