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3

Mottled Petrel (Pterodroma inexpectata) Alternate name(s): "Scaled Petrel" Size: 33-35 cm; wing span 74-82 cm

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 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 Mottled Petrels are small seabirds with grey, black and white plumage. The cap, back, rump and the trailing side of the upperwings are grey, with darker wing tips, carpal bar and rump forming an inconspicuous "M". Silvery tips on the wing coverts create a silvery-grey sheen. The underparts are mostly grey, except the chin and throat and the vent and undertail coverts, which are white. The underwings are white, except for a black fringe all around and conspicuous broad black carpal bars. Their white frons and chin, combined with black patches around the eyes, create a high-contrast facial mask. Fresh plumage tends to be paler than when it is worn.

Taxonomy, classification See Mottled Petrel 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 Mottled Petrel is available HERE . Mottled Petrels are a long-distance migratory pelagic species of the Pacific Ocean and the southern Indian Ocean. Their breeding grounds are in the southern hemisphere, on islands around New Zealand. Outside the breeding season they migrate northward, spending much of their time in the northern Pacific Ocean, in the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska and around the Aleutian islands. In Australia, Mottled Petrels are usually found off the south-eastern coastline. They spend most of their time on the high seas, avoiding the proximity of land and not entering the Bass Strait. They are found closer to the coast, and along Bass Strait, only occasionally. Mottled Petrels usually live out on the open seas. Only during their breeding season they approach land, to nest on offshore islands (around New Zealand).

Sightings Click here for sighting information We have not seen Mottled Petrels in Australian waters yet. P. Brown spotted Mottled Petrels off a cruise ship on the western Pacific Ocean between Bora Bora and Hawaii in April 2019. All photographic information presented on this page has kindly been contributed by P. Brown.

Photos

ADULT

Sex unknown

Lateral view of a Mottled Petrel in low flight, with a clear view of the characteristic underwing pattern with its broad black carpal bar (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[April 2019]

Lateral view of a Mottled Petrel in low flight, with a clear view of the characteristic underwing pattern with its broad black carpal bar (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[April 2019]

Lateral view onto the upperparts of a Mottled Petrel in flight (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[April 2019]

Near-dorsal view onto the upperparts of a Mottled Petrel in flight; note also the white facial mask (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[April 2019]

Near-dorsal view onto the upperparts of a Mottled Petrel in flight (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[April 2019]

Near-dorsal view of the upperparts of a Mottled Petrel in flight (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[April 2019]

Lateral comparison of a Mottled Petrel with a Sooty Shearwater in flight (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[April 2019]

Near-dorsal view of the underparts of a Mottled Petrel in flight (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[April 2019]

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.

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Disclaimer: Comments are always welcome. We give no guarantee that the information presented on these pages is always correct or up-to-date. External links are marked as such and we take no responsibility for the contents of external pages. All images on this site are protected by copyright & used by permission of the respective owners. If you wish to reproduce them or any of the material presented on this web site, please contact us: We hereby acknowledge the original custodians of the land which is described on these pages, including the Gomeroi/Gamilaraay people of the North-west Slopes and Plains of NSW, and the traditional owners of other lands and nations within this country. We acknowledge elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded.          Last updated: Sun, 5 May 2019, 5:03 +00:00