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Southern Giant-Petrel (Macronectes giganteus) Alternate name(s): "Giant Fulmar*", "Mother Carey's Goose*", "Nelly*", "Stinker*", "Stinkpot" Size: 80-100 cm; wing span 1.8-2.1 m Weight: 3.5-5.5 kg

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 Southern Giant-Petrels are big seabirds whose plumage can have two different morphologies, white or dark. White morphology Southern Giant-Petrels are all-white, except for a few grey specks. Dark morphology Southern Giant-Petrels have a white head and the same bills as white morphology birds, but the rest of their plumage, from the neck downward, is dark-grey, mottled with lighter grey edges of the feathers. Adults have white irises and the bill is yellowish-white, with a light-green tip. Juveniles are all dark-grey. Their irises are black.

Taxonomy, classification See Southern Giant-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 Southern Giant-Petrel is available HERE . The range of the Southern Giant-Petrel is circumpolar, encompassing all southern oceans and coastal waters around the southern continents, in particular southern South America. Southern Giant-Petrels reach the Australian coastline anywhere up to a few hundred km South of the tropic of Capricorn on both the East coast and the West coast. Southern Giant-Petrels breed on numerous offshore islands.

Sightings Click here for sighting information B. Hensen reports spotting Southern Giant-Petrels off Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean in December 1993. M. Eaton spotted a Southern Giant-Petrel on a pelagic off Eaglehawk Neck, near Hobart, TAS, in September 2021.

Photos

ADULT

Sex unknown

White morphology

Near-lateral view of an adult Southern Giant-Petrel, partly obscured by an immature bird (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Macquarie Island, Southern Ocean, December 1993]

Lateral view of an adult Southern Giant-Petrel (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Macquarie Island, Southern Ocean, December 1993]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Full-frontal view of a juvenile Southern Giant-Petrel (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Off Eaglehawk Neck, near Hobart, TAS, September 2021]

Close-up frontal view of a juvenile Southern Giant-Petrel (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Off Eaglehawk Neck, near Hobart, TAS, September 2021]

Lateral view of a juvenile Southern Giant-Petrel (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Off Eaglehawk Neck, near Hobart, TAS, September 2021]

Lateral view of a juvenile Southern Giant-Petrel (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Off Eaglehawk Neck, near Hobart, TAS, September 2021]

Near-frontal comparison of a juvenile Southern Giant-Petrel, front left, with a Northern Giant-Petrel
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Off Eaglehawk Neck, near Hobart, TAS, September 2021]

Lateral comparison of a juvenile Southern Giant-Petrel, right, with a Northern Giant-Petrel (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Off Eaglehawk Neck, near Hobart, TAS, September 2021]

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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