Elliot's Storm Petrel in Galápagos: Facts and Where to See It

Elliot's storm petrel is sooty black with a white rump and a white band that crosses the lower belly and runs up its middle. Its long legs reach beyond the tail in flight. Most storm petrels feed only far out at sea, but the Galápagos subspecies forages close to shore, so it is one of the few storm petrels you can watch from a small boat in a bay.

• Two forms. One subspecies lives in the Humboldt Current off Peru and Chile; the other, galapagoensis, around the Galápagos Islands.
• Named for a naturalist. It was described in 1859 by the American zoologist Daniel Giraud Elliot.

Although it is often seen, very little is known about where this bird breeds. Before 2003, only one nest had ever been found, on Isla Chungungo off Chile; a survey in 2002 found about eleven more there, in three crevices shared with nesting Humboldt penguins. A mummified chick, confirmed by DNA, was found in a crevice in Chile's Atacama Desert, but no live bird has been seen there. The Galápagos population seems to be resident and likely breeds in the islands, but no nesting site is known.

Guide sighting records list one site: Baroness Lookout on Floreana, rated Rare. Because the Galápagos birds feed close to shore, look for tiny dark birds fluttering low over calm water in bays and around the anchorage.

The Galápagos population seems to be resident, and the guide records list the bird at its site in every month. In the next twelve months, 62 departures stop at Baroness Lookout.

Nobody can say yet. The IUCN lists it as Data Deficient, meaning there is not enough information to judge its status. With breeding sites largely unknown, even basic numbers are missing. In Galápagos, park rules keep visitors at least 2 metres (6 feet) from wildlife.

1. Looking only out to sea. This storm petrel feeds close to shore.
2. Confusing it with the wedge-rumped storm petrel. Look for the white band on the belly and the long legs.
3. Counting on a sighting. The one site in the guide records is rated Rare.