Page 68 - Animals of the Sakhalin Region in myths and legends

Petrel spotted

(Calonectris leucomelas)

The body length is about 48 cm. The wingspan is about one meter. The female weighs
approximately 538 g, the males — 470 g. It differs from other petrels of a similar size in the
dark upper body and white belly. The head is spotty brownish white.
It feeds in shelf and pelagic waters. Food items are small fish, squid, plankton.
In the waters of the Sakhalin Region, it occurs during periods of roaming; keeps in the
open, less often in the coastal waters of the Sea of Japan off the western shores of island
Sakhalin and in the Pacific waters of the South Kuril Islands: Kunashir, Iturup, Urup, Small
Kuril Ridge. The features of the distribution of this thermophilic species in the waters of the
Far Eastern seas have not been studied. It nests on islands off the coast of Japan, in the Yellow
Sea off the western coast of the Korea Peninsula and in China, and in the Russian Federation
— on Island Karamzin to the Peter the Great Bay, Primorsky Territory.

During a violent storm, a lumberjack rescued the child of the petrel bird
Sirin. She was so happy and in gratitude promised the man to fulfill his
every wish.
And the mortal wished to see what no man sees. In response, the bird
carried him into a cave, where a lot of candles burned — human lives,
and someone invisible blew them out and lit new ones. The woodcutter
wanted to see who it was, Sirin warned him against such desires. But the
woodcutter stood his ground. At that very moment, he went blind and paid

for his curiosity.
But the bird could not leave in trouble the man who saved its child,
and rewarded the lumberjack with secret knowledge. He became a great
physician and fortuneteller.

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