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Jamaica petrel
Dusty brown Did you know?
I am a medium sized, dark brown During the late 1870s, the forests of
bird. My entire body is dusty-brown, Blue Mountains were cleared for
apart from the end of my tail, which cinchona plantation. In November
is white. My legs and bill are black. and December 1879, twenty-two
petrels were collected from the
area—the last ever.
Underground life
Have you seen birds that build nests
underground? Well, I do! Our mating
season is between October and
December which is the time we are
most vocal. I am a hardworking bird
and sleep for only a few hours a day.
I hunt for food near the ocean during
the night, and return to my burrow to
Jamaica tpheetrheilgshmlaankdesboufreroaswtesrannJdamhoaliecsa.under rest during the day.
trees in
Natural competition
Human activities have affected
my survival directly as well as
indirectly. Till the middle of the
nineteenth century, I was hunted
for food. After that, a major cause
of our reducing numbers were
rats, mongooses, and pigs, which
Mispoleantnrgdeoloipnsoe1ps8,u7wl2a,htsiiocehnv.ewreelryehinutrrtotdhuecJeadmtaoictahe were introduced by humans.
These animals prey on us and eat
our younger ones. Several species
of lice also survived on us as
parasites, making us ill.
32–33
Dusty brown Did you know?
I am a medium sized, dark brown During the late 1870s, the forests of
bird. My entire body is dusty-brown, Blue Mountains were cleared for
apart from the end of my tail, which cinchona plantation. In November
is white. My legs and bill are black. and December 1879, twenty-two
petrels were collected from the
area—the last ever.
Underground life
Have you seen birds that build nests
underground? Well, I do! Our mating
season is between October and
December which is the time we are
most vocal. I am a hardworking bird
and sleep for only a few hours a day.
I hunt for food near the ocean during
the night, and return to my burrow to
Jamaica tpheetrheilgshmlaankdesboufreroaswtesrannJdamhoaliecsa.under rest during the day.
trees in
Natural competition
Human activities have affected
my survival directly as well as
indirectly. Till the middle of the
nineteenth century, I was hunted
for food. After that, a major cause
of our reducing numbers were
rats, mongooses, and pigs, which
Mispoleantnrgdeoloipnsoe1ps8,u7wl2a,htsiiocehnv.ewreelryehinutrrtotdhuecJeadmtaoictahe were introduced by humans.
These animals prey on us and eat
our younger ones. Several species
of lice also survived on us as
parasites, making us ill.
32–33