the sea kangaroos of new york's grand canyon
let me tell you about a cool north atlantic seabird in a cool place
the hudson river didn’t always stop at new york harbor. in fact, it once extended a hundred miles southeast, where it carved a submarine canyon comparable in size and depth to the grand canyon.
that canyon is an incredible place to see sealife, including the best north atlantic seabird: the white-faced storm petrel.
geology isn’t quite my strong suit, but here’s my understanding: ten thousand years ago, glaciers covered much of new york city and sea levels were hundreds of feet lower. the hudson river flowed over this exposed land. look at a map in satellite mode and you can see its remnants, called the hudson shelf valley, a faint indentation radiating southeast along the continental shelf. various interactions occurred where the river met the edge of the continental shelf, like the river depositing sediment and currents, causing the steep walls at the edge to fail.
the progressive failure of these undersea cliffs eventually led to the formation of a 400-mile-long submarine canyon, with walls nearly a half mile tall. at its deepest point, the canyon floor descends to more than 10,000 feet below sea level.
but i’m not as interested in the geology as i am in wildlife, and deep-sea canyons can be good places for wildlife. the complex interaction between the sea surface and the undersea landscape leads to cold ocean water circulating upward, sending nutrients to the surface layers of the ocean. this causes plankton and krill to accumulate, as well as the other sea creatures that feed on them, and the sea creatures that feed on those sea creatures, etc. those sea creatures include the white-faced storm petrel. one such canyon in massachussetts recently attracted nearly 600 white-faced storm petrels!
what is a white-faced storm petrel? it’s the best north atlantic seabird. maybe it’s just the best seabird. or the best bird. you have to see it to believe it. storm petrels are small members of the tubenose order, the order of seafaring birds that also includes albatrosses. many storm petrels take on a uniformly brownish-gray appearance with just a few white accents; white-faced storm petrels stand out with their white face, eye line, and white belly (which actually makes for great camouflage when they’re set against whitecaps). but most importantly, they hop like little kangaroos when they feed—i think the turbulence attracts prey for them to snap from the surface:
like i said. best.
white-faced storm petrels are a pretty common seabird and breed on rocky islands across the world. in the north atlantic, that includes the cape verde islands, the canary islands, and the selvagens islands. they’re not as common around north america, but it seems that a number of them make it all the way across the atlantic each year, where they’re attracted to swirls of warm, tropical water from the gulf-stream current that make it to the edges of the continental shelf. they’re most frequently encountered in the submarine canyons.
i recently took the american princess’ 24-hour pelagic trip to the shelf edge and the canyon with this bird in mind. aside from the warm weather, august is when you’re most likely to encounter a few deep-sea avian specialties like the endangered black-capped petrel, the enigmatic band-rumped storm petrel—and if you’re lucky, the white-faced storm petrel. the trip departed after sunset and motored along the hudson shelf valley while we tried to sleep, then a little after sunrise, the deck hands started tossing chum in the water to attract any birds. after some waiting, guide doug gochfeld shouted at the top of his lungs, “WHITE-FACED STORM PETREL!”
it took a moment for everyone to get their eyes on the bird, given its camouflage. but soon, it came so close that optical illusions failed, and we watched naked-eye as it bounced along the water, coming within a few feet of the boat. seeing this bird is never a guarantee, let alone seeing it so close and so well. it was amazing.
why do i like the storm petrel so much? even from a hundred miles away, this charismatic seabird relies on the same forces that new york city does. the same glaciers that formed long island—leaving behind a ridge of rubble still visible as the higher-elevation parks of brooklyn and queens—combined with the hudson river synonymous with the nyc area, created this enormous canyon and deep-water habitat in the perfect location to attract this goofy little bird.
fortunately, people recognize just how special this canyon is, not just for the white-faced storm petrel, but for all of the other organisms that take advantage of it. just this summer, the biden administration declared that they planned to designate the canyon a national marine sanctuary, protecting it from future oil, gas, and mineral extraction and investing in safeguarding it for its denizens into the future. hopefully, that action will make it so i and other seafaring wildlife watchers can continue to enjoy white-faced storm petrels far into the future.
postscript:
first off, i’m leading some bird walks in nyc this week:
september 3, prospect park, 9am ($15, tickets here/limited to 12)
september 6, prospect park, 5:30pm (that one is free, we’re meeting at the stranahan monument)
second, the rest of the pelagic was incredible; check out the trip report here. our best sighting was the shockingly rare sowerby’s beaked whale. honestly, i wanted to pick the whale as the topic of this newsletter given that it was rarer than basically any resident sea denizen we could have encountered, but i’m still grumpy that i didn’t get pictures of its trademark olive garden breadstick shaped beak. pretend like you can see the beak in this photo.
