petrel

petrel, any of a number of seabirds of the order Procellariiformes, particularly certain members of the family Procellariidae, which also includes the fulmars and the shearwaters. Members of the family Hydrobatidae are increasingly called storm petrels; those of the Pelecanoididae are usually called diving petrels (see diving petrel; storm petrel).

Among the procellariid petrels, some two dozen species of the genera Pterodroma and Bulweria are called gadfly petrels because their flight is more fluttering than that of the related shearwaters (see shearwater). Certain heavy-bodied petrels are known as fulmars, and one, Macronectes giganteus, is called both giant fulmar and giant petrel (see fulmar).

Gadfly petrels nest in loose colonies on islands in the tropical and subtropical regions of the major oceans. A single egg (rarely two) is laid on the soil surface or in a burrow or crevice. The chick is tended by both parents and deserted about a week before it is fully fledged; it completes its development on stored fat. During the nonbreeding season, these birds roam the open ocean, feeding on squid and small fish. Most gadfly petrels are dark above and light beneath, with long wings and short, wedge-shaped tails. Because they are quite similar in appearance, the species are difficult to distinguish.

Some of the better known gadfly petrels are the endangered Bermuda petrel, or cahow (Pterodroma cahow, sometimes considered a race of P. hasitata); the dark-rumped petrel, also called the Hawaiian petrel (P. phaeopygia), another endangered species, now concentrated almost entirely on the island of Maui; the phoenix petrel (P. alba), which breeds on several tropical archipelagos; and the black-capped petrel, or diablotin (P. hasitata), formerly found throughout the West Indies but now known only in Haiti. Several other species, including the Chatham Island (or magenta) petrel, the Galápagos dark-rumped petrel, and the Réunion petrel, are also on the endangered list.

Several other procellariids are also called petrels. Among them are the pintado petrel, or Cape pigeon (Daption capensis), a sub-Antarctic species about 40 cm (16 inches) long, marked with bold patches of black and white. The snow petrel (Pagodroma nivea), 35 cm, a pure white species, and the Antarctic petrel (Thalassoica antarctica), 42 cm, a brown-and-white-pied species, are rarely seen outside Antarctic waters.