| Case Summary for:
Submission No 363: Jouanin's Petrel Bulweria fallax southwest
of Ashmore Reef, WA on 14 October 2000 (Unpublished). Submitted by David
James. Verdict: Accepted During an ornithological cruise attended by eleven observers from Broome to Ashmore Reef in October 2000, several sightings of birds believed to be Jouanin's Petrels were made with varying degrees of confidence. One of these sightings (15th October 2000), has already been presented and accepted by BARC (Case No. 349) (Carter 2003). This case concerns the sighting of a single bird on the 14th October 2000 in deep waters slightly NE of the position 13o42'S, 121o40'E. Having 100% confidence in the identification of the two birds seen the following day and that record having been accepted by BARC, the author, supported by a second observer, retrospectively felt sufficiently confident to claim this observation. The bird was in view for about 1½ minutes enabling all possible confusion species to be ruled out. In summary, the description describes the plumage as all dark brown except for the presence of rather faint and short, paler brown covert bars, which were less pronounced than those of Bulwer's Petrel B, bulwerii, Swinhoe's Storm-Petrel Oceanodroma monorhis and Matsudaira's Storm-Petrel O. matsudairae. The size was estimated to be considerably larger than Bulwer's Petrel. The bill was seen well and was conspicuously heavy and thick recalling a Pseudobulweria. Tail shape was not seen well although it seemed long. The inner-wing was considered to be shorter than that of Bulwer's Petrel and the outer wing longer and narrow. The flight mannerism was striking in that the bird flapped continuously somewhat reminiscent of an Arctic Jaeger. At the time of the sighting the bird was considered to be a probable Jouanin's Petrel, but the subsequent sightings served to confirm this sighting too. Seven of the eight committee members endorsed the identification. This
is the minimum sufficient to confirm acceptance. Even though the "stepped-tail"
was not seen; the overall size, structure, colour, bill shape and mannerism
adequately rules out other contenders particularly Bulwer's Petrel, Matsudaira's
Storm-Petrel, Swinhoe's Storm-Petrel and Wedge-tailed Shearwater Puffinus
pacificus. One member suggested that the location was outside Australian
waters; however this location does in fact lie within the Exclusive Economic
Zone (200nm limit). Following BARC Submission No. 349 this is the second
confirmed Australian record. Other reported sightings on the same, previous
and subsequent voyages have not been submitted.
· Beaman, M. & Madge, S. 1998. The Handbook of Bird Identification
for Europe and the Western Palearctic, Princeton University Press,
Princeton.
Tony Palliser
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