Beached Procellariiformes in southern Brazil

The Procellariiformes feed mostly offshore or pelagically. They can travel thousands of kilometers from their colonies to food-rich areas or they can search for tropical seas, where they can find areas of food concentration along upwellings or local fonts. Many times these birds died at the sea and they are taken to the beaches by currents. From March 2003 until May 2005, a total of 4.177 km of coast were surveyed in Rio Grande do Sul state, southern Brazil. A total of 87 individuals of 12 different species were found. The northern migrants, Puffinus puffinus (n = 25) and Calonectris diomedea (n = 5) occurred mainly in spring (66,7%) and summer (23,3%). Southern migrants, Diomedea dabbenena (n = 1), Daption capense (n = 2), Fulmarus glacialoides (n = 3), Puffinus gravis (n = 14), P. griseus (n = 3), Macronectes giganteus (n = 3), Macronectes sp. (n = 1) Oceanites oceanicus (n = 2), Procellaria aequinoctialis (n = 6), Procellaria sp. (n = 2), Thalassarche melanophris (n = 16), T. chlororhynchos (n = 3) and Thalassarche sp. (n = 1) occurred mainly in autumn (71,9%). In the spring and summer southern migrants were 28,1%. During austral autumn and winter, the northern migrants breed, so these birds are observed in a reduced numbers in the south hemisphere. Southern migrants breed in austral spring and summer, for consequence the number of bird appearance is decreased in this same period in the wintering area. The occurrence of northern migrants in autumn and of southern migrants in spring and summer can be related to immature individuals, which stay at wintering areas before returning to their breeding grounds.