Hydrobates melania
Silhouette: Rachel Shoop · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The black storm petrel (Hydrobates melania) is a small seabird of the storm petrel family Hydrobatidae. It is 23 cm in length, with a wingspan of 46–51 cm. The species breeds colonially on islands off the southern California coast of the United States and off the Baja Peninsula and Gulf of California of Mexico. Nesting sites are usually in rock crevices, occasionally in small burrows in soft earth. It also uses unused burrows from auklets. Colonies are attended nocturnally in order to avoid predatory birds such as gulls, hawks and owls. Like most petrels, its walking ability is limited to a short shuffle to the burrow. The female lays a single white egg per breeding season, if the egg is lost then it is replaced only rarely. Both parents share incubation duties, incubation lasting around 50 days. The chick is brooded for a few days after hatching until it is able to thermoregulate by itself, after which both parents forage to provide food. Chicks fledge 10 weeks after hatching.
The black storm petrel spends the rest of the year at sea, but occurring closer to shore than most other storm-petrels. Because of this, it sometimes can be seen from the mainland. It undertakes... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cabo Blanco Absolute Nature Reserve | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Coiba National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 3 | Cabo Pulmo National Park | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 4 | Manuel Antonio National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Black Storm-Petrel sighting in Cabo Blanco Absolute Nature Reserve on a given day, based on 85 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 108th most-seen of the 241 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Black Storm-Petrel in Cabo Blanco Absolute Nature Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in February–March and September–December, the lowest months. That is one of Cabo Blanco Absolute Nature Reserve's wettest months, with about 510 mm of rain against 15 mm in February.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black Storm-Petrel sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Black Storm-Petrel sightings, Cabo Blanco Absolute Nature Reserve has the highest daily chance: about 10%. Next come Coiba National Park (Panama, about 10%) and Cabo Pulmo National Park (Mexico, under 5%).
Same family: Hydrobatidae
The closest relatives of the Black Storm-Petrel that you can see in Cabo Blanco Absolute Nature Reserve (family Hydrobatidae, Northern Storm-Petrels) are Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel (about 10%) and Least Storm-Petrel (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black Storm-Petrel is recorded against all the birds logged in Cabo Blanco Absolute Nature Reserve (85 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
