Southern oceans, north only to the tropics. In the northern hemisphere
it is known from the Capverde islands, but there is no confirmed record
from Europe. There is a record from 1787 given as "Procellaria Fregatta,
L. Die Fregatte". The locality of this record is in Germany in Hessen
and is given as "Auf der Wester; sehr selten." (transl. "on the Wester; very rare") (Grandidier 1787). The identity of this bird is unclear. Scherner (2001) suggests that this record refers to a fregatebird of the genus Fregata (see Fregata magnificens), while Ringleben (cited in Scherner 2001)
believes that this record refers to a storm petrel, presumably Fregetta
grallaria. I believe that both interpretations are not correct. The notion
that the 1787 record refers to a Fregata species is based on the fact
that a true Fregata specimen has been shot on the Weser around the same
time (in January 1792). Scherner (2001)
argues that "Wester" (the locality of the 1787 record) is identical to
"Weser" (the locality of the 1792 record) and that the two records
therefore actually refer to the same bird and the date of the find has
been confused over time. However, the 1792 record is relatively
well-documented, even the exact month of the find (January) is given.
Thus it is unlikely that the two records refer to the same bird. The
notion that the 1787 record refers to Fregetta grallaria is probably
based on the similarity between the Genus name Fregetta and the German
name "Fregatte" given in Grandidier (1787).
However, at Grandidier´s time (late 18th century) "Fregatte" or "Fregattensturmschwalbe" was the vernacular name of Pelagodroma marina, not of Fregetta grallaria. In addition, Pelagodroma marina
occurs farther north, whereas Fregetta grallaria is a southern species
with no other record in Europe. Therefore, I suggest that the most
likely identity of the 1787
"Procellaria Fregatta" is the White-faced Storm Petrel Pelagodroma marina.
Thus, there is
currently no convincing evidence for the occurrence of Fregetta grallaria in Germany.
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