A Southern Giant Petrel petrel chick

Petrels are tube-nosed seabirds in the bird order Procellariiformes. The common name does not indicate relationship beyond that point, as "petrels" occur in three of the four families within that group (except the Albatross family, Diomedeidae). Having a fossil record that was assumed to extend back at least 60 million years, the Procellariiformes was long considered to be among the older bird groupings, other than the ratites, with presumably distant ties to penguins and loons. However, recent research and fossil finds such as Vegavis show that the Galliformes (Pheasants, Grouse and relatives), and Anseriformes (ducks, geese and swans) are older^{[citation needed]}, while the relationships of the tube-nosed seabirds are still not fully resolved. ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1201x899, 497 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: Petrel Giant petrel ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1201x899, 497 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: Petrel Giant petrel ... Binomial name Macronectes giganteus (Gmelin, 1789) Macronectes halli (Mathews, 1912) The giant petrels are two large seabirds from the genus Macronectes. ... The Sooty Tern is highly aerial and marine and will spend years flying at sea without returning to land. ... For other uses, see Bird (disambiguation). ... Families Procellariidae Diomedeidae Hydrobatidae Pelecanoididae Procellariiformes (from the Latin procella, a storm) is an order of birds formerly called Tubinares and still called tubenoses in English. ... This article is about the bird family. ... For other uses, see Fossil (disambiguation). ... Families Struthionidae (ostriches) Rheidae (rheas) Casuariidae (emus etc. ... Modern genera Aptenodytes Eudyptes Eudyptula Megadyptes Pygoscelis Spheniscus For prehistoric genera, see Systematics Some penguins are curious. ... Global distribution of Gaviidae (breeding and winter ranges combined) Species Gavia stellata Gavia arctica Gavia pacifica Gavia immer Gavia adamsii The Loons (N.Am. ... Vegavis is a recently discovered genus of extinct birds that lived during the Cretaceous period. ... Families Megapodidae Numididae Odontophoridae Phasianidae Meleagrididae Tetraonidae Cracidae Mesitornithidae The Galliformes is an order of birds containing the turkeys, grouse, quails and pheasants. ... Genera Ithaginis Catreus Rheinartia Crossoptilon Lophura Argusianus Pucrasia Syrmaticus Chrysolophus Phasianus † See also partridge, quail Pheasants are a group of large birds in the order Galliformes. ... Genera Tetrao Lagopus Falcipennis Centrocercus Bonasa Dendrapagus Tympanuchus Grouse are from the order Galliformes which inhabit temperate and subarctic regions of the northern hemisphere. ... Families Anhimidae Anseranatidae Anatidae †Dromornithidae †Presbyornithidae The order Anseriformes contains about 150 species of birds in three families: the Anhimidae (the screamers), Anseranatidae (the Magpie-goose), and the Anatidae, which includes over 140 species of waterfowl, among them the ducks, geese, and swans. ... Subfamilies Dendrocygninae Oxyurinae Anatinae Aythyinae Merginae Duck is the common name for a number of species in the Anatidae family of birds. ... Geese redirects here. ... For other uses, see Swan (disambiguation). ...

All the members of the order are exclusively pelagic in distribution — returning to land only to breed. The pelagic zone is the part of the open sea or ocean comprising the water column, i. ...

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. It is dominant in the Southern Oceans, but not so in the Northern Hemisphere. Genera Several, List of Procellariidae. ...

It includes a number of petrel groups, the relationships between which have finally been resolved to satisfaction (Austin, 1996; Bretagnolle et al., 1998; Nunn & Stanley, 1998 and Brooke, 2004):

• The fulmarine petrels: 7 species: surface predators and filter feeders, breed in high latitudes but migrate along cool currents to the north. All but Fulmarus essentially confined to the south, Fulmarus apparently colonised the N 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
  • Blue Petrel Halobaena caerula.

• The procellariine petrels, larger or mid-sized species feeding on fish and molluscs which are fairly close to the prions:
  • Procellaria and
  • Bulweria.

• Shearwaters: numerous species in several genera with a medium number of species.
  • Calonectris,
  • Puffinus, which is in fact two rather distinct groups of larger and smaller species,
  • Pseudobulweria,
  • Kerguelen Petrel Lugensa brevirostris.

• The gadfly petrels: These are a considerable number of agile short-billed petrels in the genus Pterodroma which include the endangered Bermuda Petrel or Cahow and a considerable number of forms rendered extinct by human activity.

The family Hydrobatidae is the storm-petrels, small pelagic petrels with a fluttering flight which often follow ships. Flock of Barnacle Geese during autumn migration Bird migration refers to the regular seasonal journeys undertaken by many species of birds. ... The Miocene Epoch is a period of time that extends from about 23. ... Binomial name (Gmelin, 1789) Macronectes halli (Mathews, 1912) Giant petrel at South Georgia Island The giant petrels are two large seabirds from the genus Macronectes. ... Species (Linnaeus, 1761) (A. Smith, 1840) For other uses, see Fulmar (disambiguation). ... Binomial name Thalassocia antarctica (J. F. Gmelin, 1789) The Antarctic petrel (Thalassoica antarctica) is a boldly marked dark brown and white petrel, found in Antarctica, most commonly in the Ross and Weddell seas. ... Binomial name Daption capense (Linnaeus, 1758) The Cape Petrel, Daption capense, is a common seabird of the Southern Ocean from the family Procellariidae. ... Binomial name Pagodroma nivea (G. Forster, 1777) The Snow Petrel (Pagodroma nivea) is a small, pure white fulmarine petrel with black underdown, coal-black eyes, small black bill and bluish gray feet. ... For the infectious agent bearing the same name, see prion. ... Binomial name Halobaena caerulea (Gmelin, 1789) The Blue Petrel, (Halobaena caerulea), is a small seabird in the family Procellariidae. ... Species Procellaria is a genus of southern ocean long-winged seabirds All five species are named as petrel, although they were thought to be more closely related to the shearwaters and current research places them closer to the prions They are large shearwaters, found in the temperate and cold waters... Binomial name Bulweria bulwerii Jardine & Selby, 1828 The Bulwers Petrel (Bulweria bulwerii) is a small petrel, the only bird in the genus Bulweria (Bonaparte, 1843). ... Genera Procellaria Calonectris Puffinus †See also fulmar, prion, petrel Shearwaters are medium-sized long-winged seabirds. ... Genus Calonectris Mathews & Iredale 1915 Calonectris is a genus of seabirds. ... Genus Puffinus Brisson, 1760 Puffinus is a genus of seabirds in the order Procellariiformes. ... Species . Pseudobulweria is a genus of seabirds in the family Procellariidae. ... Binomial name Lugensa brevirostris (Lesson, 1831) Synonyms Pterodroma brevirostris The Kerguelen Petrel Lugensa brevirostris is a small (36 cm) slate grey seabird in the family Procellariidae. ... Species 32, see text. ... Binomial name Pterodroma cahow (Nichols & Mowbray, 1916) The Bermuda Petrel is featured on the original Bermudian one dollar and ten dollar notes. ... In biology and ecology, extinction is the ceasing of existence of a species or group of species. ... Genera Subfamily Oceanitinadae Oceanites Pelagodroma Fregatta Neofregatta Subfamily Hydrobatinae Garrodia Hydrobates Oceanodroma Halocyptena The storm-petrels are seabirds in the family Hydrobatidae, part of the order Procellariiformes. ...

The family Pelecanoididae is the four species of diving petrels, genus Pelacanoides. These are auk-like small petrels of the southern oceans. The diving petrels are seabirds in the bird order Procellariiformes. ... Genera Uria Alle Alca Pinguinus Synthliboramphus Cepphus Brachyramphus Ptychoramphus Aethia Cerorhinca Fratercula Extinct genera, see Systematics Auks are birds of the family Alcidae in the order Charadriiformes. ...

Etymology

Look up petrel in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The word "petrel" comes from the Latin name for the Christian Saint Peter, and refers to the habits of certain species to hover just above the ocean waves, with their feet barely touching the water, thus giving an appearance of walking on water, as St. Peter is said to have done. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wiktionary (a portmanteau of wiki and dictionary) is a multilingual, Web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in over 151 languages. ... St Peter redirects here. ...

See also

• Skua

For other uses: see Skua (disambiguation). ...

References

• Austin, Jeremy J. (1996): Molecular Phylogenetics of Puffinus Shearwaters: Preliminary Evidence from Mitochondrial Cytochrome b Gene Sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 6(1): 77–88 doi:10.1006/mpev.1996.0060 (HTML abstract)

• Bretagnolle, V., Attié, C., Pasquet, E., (1998) "Cytochrome-B evidence for validity and phylogenetic relationships of Pseudobulweria and Bulweria (Procellariidae)" Auk 115(1):188-195 PDf fulltext

• Brooke, M. (2004): Albatrosses and Petrels Across the World. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. ISBN 0-19-850125-0

• Nunn, Gary B. & Stanley, Scott E. (1998): Body Size Effects and Rates of Cytochrome b Evolution in Tube-Nosed Seabirds. Molecular Biology and Evolution 15: 1360-1371. PDF fulltext Corrigendum

A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ...

External links

• Petrel and Shearwater videos on the Internet Bird Collection
• Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP)