The first definitive work on the European Storm-petrel and its relatives, by one of the world's leading experts on the species.
Imagine a bird as small as a sparrow, which lives most of its life on the open ocean yet can survive for decades. It walks on water, and migrates half way around the world, returning to remote islands to breed underground, often in the same rock crevice each year. At night it lays an enormous egg, feeding its chick until the nestling weighs more than both parents put together. It seems to have little fear of humans, but was itself feared by ancient seafarers.
This might sound like the stuff of legend but is actually the description of a real creature, the storm-petrel: walker on water, global wanderer, climate sentinel and open-ocean survivor.
In this beautifully written monograph, Rob Thomas explores the remarkable life of the European Storm-petrel, comparing and contrasting its behaviour and ecology across its range, and with the other storm-petrels of the world. We learn about their evolution, taxonomy, migration and adaptations to a life in the harsh open ocean, while also discovering what these enigmatic seabirds are revealing about what humans are doing to our planet.
Illustrated with 150 photographs, and including the author’s personal anecdotes and observations, Storm-petrels highlights some of the most exciting recent research findings and sets a trajectory for future discoveries.
By:
Rob Thomas
Imprint: T & AD Poyser
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781472985811
ISBN 10: 1472985818
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 18 July 2024
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Preface 1. Introduction: the European Storm-petrel and its relatives 2. What is a storm-petrel? 3. The challenges of survival at sea 4. Diet and foraging behaviour 5. The storm-petrel’s sensory world 6. Tracking the tiniest seabirds 7. Communication and mate choice 8. Breeding biology 9. Predators, parasites and pathogens 10. Conservation of storm-petrels 11. The southern storm-petrels 12. The northern storm-petrels 13. Storm-petrels in human culture 14. Encounters with storm-petrels Epilogue Acknowledgements References Glossary Index
Rob Thomas is a Senior Lecturer in Zoology at Cardiff University, where he has been based for more than 20 years. He specialises in bird behaviour and ecology, particularly the behavioural responses of birds to changing environments. Rob has been involved in storm-petrel studies since he was 16, and his research now takes him to islands in Wales, Scotland and the Faroes to study storm-petrel breeding behaviour, and to the coasts of southern Portugal, where he examines their long-distance migration journeys.
