3.11 Pelagic Seabirds
Bermuda Petrels nest on four small islets that provide less than 3.5 acres breeding habitat in the western North Atlantic Ocean. Tese nesting sites are highly erodible limestone and prone to being overwashed during storms. While these pelagic birds are endemic to Bermuda, they are known to occur of North Carolina’s coast. Several other pelagic species have been reported to occur of the NC coast primarily as they travel between breeding grounds and win- tering habitats, and thus are not considered to be “resident” in our waters during either the warmer months or during the winter. Transient species include most jaegers and the Roseate Tern. Several pelagic species have been iden- tifed as species of concern by the Northwestern Atlantic Marine Bird
Black-capped Petrel (Patrick Coin, WikiMedia) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-capped_petrel#/ media/File:Pterodroma_hasitataPCCA20070623- 3608B.jpg. Used under license CC BY-SA 2.5
Conservation Cooperative and ranked by level of concern based on regional, continental, and responsibility concerns (as of 2014). Responsibility was based on the proportion of population occurring in the Northwestern Atlantic region (Maine to Florida). Two species, Roseate Tern and Black-capped Petrel, are federally listed for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). Te data are insufcient to determine the conservation needs of pelagic species in North Carolina, therefore they are considered a knowledge gap priority. A list of pelagic seabird species considered a conservation priority in the Southeast (as identifed by various bird conservation eforts) and the level of concern as a Northwestern Atlantic region species of concern is provided in Table 3.32. 3.11.2 Conservation Concerns Two of the species in Table 3.32 are listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as endangered (Bermuda Petrel, Black-capped Petrel). A taxon is listed by IUCN as endangered when the best available evidence indicates that it meets any of the evaluation criteria and is therefore considered to be facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild. IUCN evaluation criteria can be found online at http://www.iucnredlist.org/ technical-documents/red-list-documents.
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2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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