Thalassoica antarctica
The Antarctic Petrel (Thalassoica antarctica) is a striking and hardy seabird of the southern polar regions, instantly recognizable by its bold brown and white plumage. Averaging 40-46 cm (16-18 inches) in length with a wingspan of 100-110 cm (39-43 inches) and weighing 550-780 grams (1.2-1.7 lbs), it exhibits a dark brown cap, nape, and back, contrasting sharply with a bright white underbody and a distinctive white patch on its brown upperwing. Its black bill is tipped with a tubular nostril...
Exclusively found in polar marine environments, breeding on ice-free rock cliffs and nunataks of the Antarctic continent, and foraging over the pack ice and open waters of the Southern Ocean.
Primarily feeds on krill (Euphausia superba), small fish (especially Antarctic silverfish), and cephalopods, caught by surface-seizing or shallow pursuit-diving.
Antarctic Petrels are predominantly diurnal, spending daylight hours foraging at sea and returning to colonies at night during the breeding season. Their foraging strategy involves surface-seizing, shallow pursuit-diving, and occasionally plunge-diving for prey, often associating with ice floes a...
The Antarctic Petrel is an endemic breeder to the Antarctic continent and associated remote sub-Antarctic islands. Its primary breeding grounds are found on ice-free nunataks and coastal cliffs across the Antarctic Peninsula, the Weddell Sea sector, Dronning Maud Land (where some of the largest c...
Least Concern
- The Antarctic Petrel is one of the few bird species that breeds exclusively on the Antarctic continent, often in vast colonies far from the coast. - Some of their breeding colonies, like those in the Sør Rondane Mountains, can be found up to 300 kilometers (186 miles) inland on exposed rock nun...