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3

Fairy Prion (Pachyptila turtur) Alternate name(s): "Fairy Dove Petrel", "Whalebird*" Size: 24-28 cm; wing span 56-60 cm Body mass: 110-170 g Wing loading [g/cm2]: 0.39

Australia: Family Group 3 Family Group 3 table Southern Fulmar Antarctic Petrel Cape Petrel Mottled Petrel Black-winged Petrel Providence Petrel Grey-faced Petrel Kermadec Petrel Soft-plumaged Petrel Tahiti Petrel Buller's Shearwater Wedge-tailed Shearwater Flesh-footed Shearwater Sooty Shearwater Short-tailed Shearwater Fluttering Shearwater Hutton's Shearwater Little Shearwater Antarctic Prion Slender-billed Prion Fairy Prion Blue Petrel Southern Giant-Petrel Northern Giant-Petrel Light-mantled Albatross Wandering Albatross Southern Royal Albatross Northern Royal Albatross Black-browed Albatross Campbell Albatross Buller's Albatross Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross Shy Albatross Common Diving-Petrel Wilson's Storm-Petrel New Zealand Storm-Petrel White-faced Storm-Petrel Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names Habitat pages Key plants Birds home page

Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Fairy Prions are small seabirds. Their upperparts, including the cap of the head, are bluish-grey, with a dark-grey "M" pattern spanning from one wingtip to the other. In Fairy Prions this "M" is complete and prominent, contrasting well with the rest of the upperwings. Fairy Prions also have a broad black terminal tail band. The underparts are almost all white. The face is white, except a grey eye stripe. The underwings are white, except for a thin, faint, light-grey trailing edge and a thin, black outer leading edge. The undertail has a black terminal band and a grey subterminal patch.

Taxonomy, classification See Fairy Prion at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range 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 Fairy Prion is available HERE . The range of the Fairy Prion is circumpolar, encompassing all southern oceans. There are two races, nominate race "turtur" and race "subantarctica". Although race "subantarctica" can potentially also be seen in coastal waters off the Australian continent, usually race "turtur" is found. Race "turtur" reaches the shores of Australia between the tropic of Capricorn on the QLD coastline and Eyre peninsula in SA, including Tasmania and the smaller islands along Bass Strait. On Australian soil Fairy Prions breed on the Bass Strait islands and Macquarie Island. Fairy Prions are pelagic birds that spend most of their time out on the open ocean and in coastal waters. They breed on small offshore islands.

Sightings Click here for sighting information B. Hensen reports spotting Fairy Prions off the coast of NSW near Wattamolla, Royal NP, NSW, in June 2013. We first spotted Fairy Prions on a pelagic 22 NM (40 km) ESE of Terrigal, NSW, in July 2013. At the time, we also spotted about 20 Fairy Prions off Wybung Head, Munmorah SCA, NSW. M. Roderick reports spotting Fairy Prions off Port Stephens, NSW, in August 2016.

Photos

Race "turtur"

ADULT

Near-lateral/lateral views of both the upperwing and underwing patterns of Fairy Prions
[Off Wybung Head, Munmorah SCA, NSW, July 2013]

Lateral view from above onto a Fairy Prion; at this angle one can see very clearly the characteristic "M" upperwing pattern and the black terminal band on the tail (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Near Wattamolla, Royal NP, NSW, June 2013]

Lateral view of a Fairy Prion, back left, showing its upperwing pattern, with an Antarctic Prion, back left; note the difference in the "M" patterns - the Antarctic Prion's is spotty and has a gap at the bird's rump, while the Fairy Prions' is complete
(photo courtesy of M. Roderick)
[Off Port Stephens, NSW, June 2013]

Dorsal view of a Fairy Prion (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Near Wattamolla, Royal NP, NSW, June 2013]

Fairy Prion close to the surface of the water (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Near Wattamolla, Royal NP, NSW, June 2013]

Comparison of a Fairy Prion and a Silver Gull
[Off Wybung Head, Munmorah SCA, NSW, July 2013]

Fairy Prions on the water
[Off Wybung Head, Munmorah SCA, NSW, July 2013]

A single Fairy Prion, seen from above, can be very hard to spot - those who want to have a go can click on the shot to see the larger version and try to find a second bird in the field of view...
[Off Wybung Head, Munmorah SCA, NSW, July 2013]

Food, Diet

Fairy Prions feed on fish.

Fairy Prions have two hunting techniques; they either dive into the water from low height or sit on the water and then jab at fish just under the surface; the latter is seen here
[Off Wybung Head, Munmorah SCA, NSW, July 2013]

Fairy Prions hunting for fish just under the water surface (creating the ripple), together with a mob of Silver Gulls
[Off Wybung Head, Munmorah SCA, NSW, July 2013]

Here the leaders of a mob of Fairy Prions and Silver Gulls can be seen moving on to an area where a school of fish will appear at the surface
[Off Wybung Head, Munmorah SCA, NSW, July 2013]

Lateral view of a Fairy Prion, top, in direct comparison with a Slender-billed Prion, bottom (photo courtesy of M. Roderick)
[Off Port Stephens, NSW, August 2016]

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.