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title: "Small and smart: Wilson’s Storm Petrels taking advantage of kills made by dolphins"
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# Small and smart: Wilson’s Storm Petrels taking advantage of kills made by dolphins

Fabio Olmos (São Paulo, Brazil) and colleagues have opportunistically registered a feeding association between one of the smallest procellariiform birds, Wilson’s Storm Petrel *Oceanites oceanicus* and Rough-toothed Dolphins *Steno bredanensis* off the south-east coast of Brazil. Their record was obtained as part of a citizen science project aimed at increasing the knowledge of local communities of seabirds and marine mammals.  Their findings have been published recently in the online version of [*Biota Neotropica*](http://www.biotaneotropica.org.br).

 The paper’s English abstract follows:

 “On 06 October 2012 a pod of Rough-toothed Dolphins *Steno bredanensis* (Delphinidae) was observed catching and tearing apart several Castin Leatherjacks *Oligoplites saliens* (Carangidae) near Montão de Trigo Island, northern coast of São Paulo, Brazil.  The resulting floating masses of viscera attracted a feeding aggregation of 120-150 Wilson's Storm-petrels *Oceanites oceanicus* (Hydrobatidae), a transequatorial migrant passing through the area during October.  This interspecific association has not been recorded before, although it could be expected given that *S. bredanensis* feeds on large fish and *O. oceanicus* is a known scavenger of kills made by cetaceans such as Killer Whales”.

 **Reference:**

 Olmos, F., Rotenberg, E. & Muscat, E. 2013.  A feeding association between Wilson's Storm-petrels *Oceanites oceanicus* and Rough-toothed Dolphins *Steno bredanensis.*  [*Biota Neotropica*13: 303-307](http://www.biotaneotropica.org.br/v13n2/en/abstract?shortcommunication+bn01013022013).

 *Juan Pablo Seco Pon, ACAP South American News Correspondent, 29 September 2013*