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Black-winged Petrels are small seabirds. The cap, back, rump and upper tail are grey, the upperwings are dark-grey, with black wing tips. The front, i.e., throat, breast, belly, vent and underside of the tail, is white. The underwing pattern is a long, thin white "W" with a broad dark-grey to black outer edge. The white face, with a short black eye stripe, is accentuated by a grey neck band. The bill, legs and feet are dark-grey.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Black-winged Petrel is available HERE .

Outside their breeding season, which Black-winged Petrels spend on oceanic islands in the tropical and subtropical Pacific Ocean (roughly from northern New Zealand to Hawaii), they remain out at sea.

Black-winged Petrels can sometimes be found in Australian waters to the East of the continent, e.g. around Lord Howe Island.

For breeding, Black-winged Petrels have a preference for grassy slopes on sandy soil, into which they dig their tunnels.

B. Hensen reports spotting Black-winged Petrels at Ned's Beach, Lord Howe Island, in November 2014. All photographic and sighting information presented on this page has kindly been contributed by B. Hensen.