Petrel
 | Parts of this article (those related to the Known species sections) need to be updated. The reason given is: the Known species section includes a partly outdated generic and family-level classification and doesn't cite any relevant sources published since 2004 (or any relevant phylogenetic studies published since the late '90s). (September 2021) |
Petrels are tube-nosed seabirds in the bird order Procellariiformes.
Up and down! - up and down!
From the base of the wave to the billow’s crown,
And amidst the flashing and feathery foam
The stormy petrel finds a home, -
A home, if such a place may be
For her who lives on the wide, wide sea.
O’er the deep! - o’er the deep!
Where the whale and the shark and the sword-fish sleep, -
Outflying the blast and the driving rain,
The petrel telleth her tale — in vain!
From "The Stormy Petrel" poem by
Description
Petrels are a
Known species
All the members of the order are exclusively
The family Procellariidae is the main radiation of medium-sized true petrels, characterised by united nostrils with medium septum, and a long outer functional primary feather. It is dominant in the Southern Oceans, but not so in the Northern Hemisphere.
It includes a number of petrel groups, the relationships between which have finally been resolved to satisfaction.[4][5][6][7]
- The fulmarine petrels: seven species of surface predators and filter feeders, breed in high latitudes but migrate along cool currents to the north. All but Fulmarus are essentially confined to the south, Fulmarus apparently colonised the Northern Hemisphere during the Early Miocene.
- The huge giant petrels, genus Macronectes, which are convergent with the albatrosses
- The true fulmars, genus Fulmarus
- Antarctic petrel Thalassoica antarctica
- Cape petrel Daption capense
- Snow petrel Pagodroma nivea
- The prions: A specialised group of a few very numerous species, all southern. They have a small, fulmar-like form and mostly filter-feed on zooplankton.
- Pachyptila, the prions proper
- The procellariine petrels, larger or mid-sized species feeding on fish and molluscs which are fairly close to the prions:
- Shearwaters: There are numerous species in several genera with a medium number of species.
- Calonectris
- Puffinus, which is two rather distinct groups of larger and smaller species
- Pseudobulweria
- Kerguelen petrel Lugensa brevirostris
- The extinctby human activity.
The families
The family
The word petrel (first recorded in that spelling 1703) comes from earlier (ca. 1670) pitteral; the English explorer
petra = "stone").See also
References
- ^ A Library of Poetry and Song: Being Choice Selections from The Best Poets. With An Introduction by William Cullen Bryant, New York, J.B. Ford and Company, 1871, p. 354.
- ^ "Petrels and Shearwaters | Bird Family Overview". The RSPB.
- S2CID 236502443.
- PMID 8812308.
- JSTOR 4089123.)
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - PMID 9787440. Corrigendum
- ISBN 0-19-850125-0
External links
The dictionary definition of petrel at Wiktionary- Petrel and shearwater videos on the Internet Bird Collection
- Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP)
