|
|
Southern Giant-Petrel
(Macronectes giganteus)
: "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
|
|
 |
Similar species |
|
 |
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. The eyes are black, the bill is yellow,
with a light-green tip.
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.
Juveniles are all dark-grey.
|
 |
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 based
on 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.
All photographic and sighting information presented
on this page has kindly been contributed by B. Hensen.
|
 |
Photos |
|
White morphology
 |
ADULT |
|
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]
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.