Scientists were astounded recently to discover a bird species in Hawaii new to science. The discovery was based upon a tiny shearwater specimen obtained in a petrel colony during the Pacific Ocean Biological Survey Program in 1963 on Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Careful reexamination of the nearly 50 year-old specimen by ornithologist Peter Pyle and subsequent DNA analysis by Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute scientists Rob Fleischer and Andreanna Welch determined that the shearwater specimen is unique in both physical characteristics and DNA from the otherwise very similar Boyd's Shearwater. Genetically, however, the shearwater is apparently totally unique from other living shearwater species. It has been assigned the name Bryan's Shearwater (Puffinus bryani) in honor of Edwin Horace Bryan Jr., who was curator of collections at the B.P. Bishop Museum in Honolulu from 1919 until 1968.
While it is tempting to believe that Bryan's Shearwater may nest (or have nested) in the Midway Atoll region, the fact that the sole know specimen was discovered there is inconclusive evidence since many seabird species regularly prospect colonies far from their primary breeding sites. In other words, the existing specimen could have simply been a prospector from a colony elsewhere in the Pacific. In any case, this discovery will put marine scientists on notice to the fact that perhaps this obviously rare species might still exist.
For more information about Bryan's Shearwater, see:
http://smithsonianscience.org/2011/08/bryan%E2%80%99s-shearwater-new-seabird-species-from-northwestern-hawaii-discovered/
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