Wedge-rumped Storm Petrel: Facts and Where to See It

Wedge-rumped storm petrels live over open water, usually well offshore, and come close to land only near their colonies. They feed mostly at night, catching small fish, squid and crustaceans in flight by pattering and dipping at the surface, or by seizing prey while sitting on the water.

• Pattering. Storm petrels flutter low over the waves, legs dangling, and pick food from the surface without landing.
• Hidden nests. In the breeding season they form colonies on cliffs and lava fields and lay in rock crevices or under plant cover.
• Crowded colonies. BirdLife names competition between the petrels themselves as the main reason nests fail.

The colony on Genovesa has a famous hunter. Galápagos short-eared owls eat these storm petrels in large numbers, and visitors with keen eyes may see an owl stalking its petrel prey along the island's eastern cliffs. BirdLife considers this predation unlikely to be above natural levels, and low losses of adults are unlikely to have a lasting effect on the population.

For visitors, this makes the lava field at Prince Philip's Steps one of the few places where predator and prey can be watched side by side on a short walk. Read more about the short-eared owl.

Guide sighting records list one site, rated Likely: Prince Philip's Steps (El Barranco) on Genovesa, where the guides note a vast colony in the lava crevices. The trail climbs a steep natural stairway from the landing to a plateau, then crosses the lava field where the petrels swirl overhead.

The guide records list the colony in every month. In the next twelve months, 369 departures stop at Prince Philip's Steps.

No. BirdLife lists it as Least Concern because its population is very large, although the trend is given as decreasing. In Galápagos, park rules keep visitors on marked trails and at least 2 metres (6 feet) from wildlife, which matters here because nests sit in crevices right beside the path.

1. Stepping off the trail. The lava crevices hold nests; park rules ask you to stay on the marked path.
2. Watching only the sky. Look along the cliffs too; that is where owls hunt.
3. Skipping the climb. The colony is on the plateau above the steps, not at the landing.