Bulweria bifax
Olson's Petrel (Bulweria bifax) was a medium-sized, extinct seabird in the family Procellariidae, known solely from fossil remains discovered on the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena. While its exact plumage remains unknown, inferences from its closest living relatives, Bulwer's Petrel (B. bulwerii) and Jouanin's Petrel (B. fallax), suggest a uniformly dark, sooty-brown or blackish coloration, typical of the genus. Its skeletal morphology indicates it was slightly larger than Bulwer'...
This species historically inhabited remote oceanic islands, primarily breeding in burrows or natural rock crevices on volcanic slopes or coastal cliffs of St. Helena. It was pelagic during the non-breeding season, ranging far over the open ocean.
Its diet likely consisted of small marine organisms, including cephalopods (squid), crustaceans, and small fish, typically caught by surface-seizing or shallow diving at sea.
Inferred from its extant relatives, Olson's Petrel was likely a highly pelagic species, spending most of its life at sea and coming to land only to breed. Breeding activities would have been largely nocturnal, a common strategy for petrels to minimize predation risk on nesting grounds. It probabl...
Olson's Petrel was an endemic resident of St. Helena, a remote volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean. Its known distribution is restricted entirely to this island, where its fossil remains have been discovered in various deposits, indicating it historically bred there. There is no evidence ...
Data Deficient
- Olson's Petrel is known exclusively from fossil remains, primarily bones, discovered on the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena. - Its scientific name, *Bulweria bifax*, translates roughly to 'two-faced Bulwer's' or 'having two appearances,' possibly referencing its distinction from *Bul...