wedge-tails in this area, generally depauperate in seabirds, was 

 0.99 birds/10 km 2 , far higher than for any of the other five 

 species seen there. 



d) Philippine Islands (Region VI. 125-1 17°E longitude). 

 Our October observations confirm the presence of this species 

 in the Sulu Sea (Delacour & Mayr, 1946; MacDonald & 

 Law ford. 1954). where we saw two dark-phase adults flying 

 south (0.08/10 knr). 



e) Color Morphs. Flight Directions, and Densities . Pacific 

 Ocean Biological Survey Program studies revealed much about 

 the migratory movements of the wedge-tailed shearwater in the 

 central and eastern Pacific (King. 1967. 1970. 1974b). In 

 general, the dark-phase population predominates south of 

 10°N latitude, the approximate area covered by the east- 

 flowing Equatorial Countercurrent and west-flowing South 



Equatorial Current. Dark-phase birds move northward 

 following the currents during the northern summer, reversing 

 their movements in the fall. 



Dark-phase birds observed during October would 

 be expected to be heading south: of 39 individuals of known 

 flight direction. 31 flew south and 4 southwest, toward 

 the nutrient-rich waters of the Equatorial Countercurrent 

 upwelling between 4°N and 9°N latitude (King, 1974a,b). 

 Our largest concentration of wedge-tails was near Pohnpei 

 (06°N, 157°E), contributing to the highest daily density 

 of this species (10.95 birds/10 km : ). At this time the sea 

 was "boiling" with fish, which attracted a great variety of 

 seabirds. Such densities of Wedge-tails are comparable to 

 those within the countercurrent latitudes in the central Pacific 

 (King, 1974a). 



TABLE 6 



Distribution, abundance, and behavior of wedge-tailed shearwaters west of 180° 



7 October-23 October 1988. 



Pacific Ocean and inland Philippine Seas, 



235 



