Townsend's Storm-Petrel Hydrobates socorroensis

Endangered seabird found in the Pacific Ocean well off the coast of Mexico and southern California. It breeds in summer on small islets near Guadalupe Island, located 160 miles from Baja California, and disperses northward and southward at other times of the year. Plumage is dark gray with a notched tail and pale stripes on the upperwing; rump may be either dark or white. Flies erratically and often patters the ocean with its feet. Very similar to Leach’s Storm-Petrel, which also has white- and dark-rumped forms, but it is smaller and darker with more rounded wings and less contrasting wing stripe. Also very similar to Ainley's Storm-Petrel, but keep in mind that Ainley’s has not yet been recorded in US waters.