NEW SEABIRD RECORDS FROM ARUBA, SOUTHERN CARIBBEAN, INCLUDING THREE PELAGIC SPECIES NEW FOR THE ISLAND

摘要

Aruba (12°30'N, 69°58'W) is a small (180 km2) island located 27 km north of the Paraguana Peninsula of Venezuela and is part of the Leeward Antilles, southern Caribbean. Until recently, Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire were part of the Netherlands Antilles, but, following the autonomy of Aruba in 1986 and of Curacao in 2010, the three islands have been labeled by the non-political term "ABC Islands."The avifauna of Aruba was most recently reviewed by Prins et al. (2009), who listed 222 species. Although the landbirds are relatively well-known, there has been very little study of the island's seabirds apart from studies of nesting gulls and terns. The only prolonged observations at sea in adjacent waters were those made by Ruud van Halewijn in 1970-1972 (Voous 1983).While conducting cetacean surveys in Aruban waters (Luksenburg 2011, in press), photographic evidence was obtained for the occurrence of several new or otherwise interesting bird species. A total of 415 boat-based surveys were made on 350 dates between 9April 2010 and 22 November 2011. All surveys were within 31 km of the coast. We also report one sighting made from land of a group of American Flamingos Phoenicopterus ruber. Sighting localities were determined by GPS. A more detailed description of themethodology of the surveys and equipment used is given in Luksenburg (in press).