Fea's Petrel

Pterodroma feaeOrder: PROCELLARIIFORMES Family: Petrels and Shearwaters (Procellariidae)

Codes: Common Name: Non AOU Scientific Name: PTEFEA ITIS Taxonomic No.: 562557

Birdman Mel's Backyard Tips

Overview

Fea's Petrel: Medium petrel, gray-brown upperparts, white belly. White breast with partial gray-brown breast band. Wings bend back at the wrist, have a dark M pattern across upperwings and lower back. Underwings are mostly dark. White face, dark mask around eyes. Gray tail, pale uppertail coverts.

Range and Habitat

Fea's Petrel: This bird breeds in the north Atlantic in the Cape Verde Islands and Madeira Islands. It can be seen solitary off North and mid-Atlantic Coasts. Fea's Petrel breeds in areas where there is a thick layer of earth covered with grass. On and around the southern plateau of Bugio there are places with earth more than 3 feet thick, and it is essential that a sufficient depth is available for the birds to construct burrows.

Topo Map: Gull-like Body

Voice Text

Generally silent

Interesting Facts

Like most petrels, the walking ability of the Fea’s Petrel’s is limited to a short shuffle to its burrow.

This bird is named after the Italian zoologist Leonardo Fea. It is also known as Gon-gon or Cape Verde Petrel.

It is strictly nocturnal at breeding sites to avoid predation by gulls.

A group of petrels are collectively known as a "gallon" and a "tank" of petrels.

Bird Term Glossary

Author

Gary Owen Dick

Artist

Samira Belous

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Fea's Petrel

● Song: Generally silent

● Foraging & Feeding: Fea's Petrel: This birds spends most of its time at sea and highly adapted for living out of contact with land. It eats small fish, cephalopods and crustaceans, often takes plankton. The birds can often be seen from the shore by day, flying and sometimes feeding. The species often feeds in large flocks around nesting islands and in waters of Southern Hemisphere. It occasionally follows ships.

● Breeding & nesting: Fea's Petrel: One white egg flecked with red or purple at large end is laid in a horizontal burrow or space between rocks lined with a small amount of plant material. Nest is built by both sexes and has varying entrance sizes and depths: the majority are more than 3 feet in length and with an elbow, the nest-chamber being 1-2 feet below the surface. Incubation ranges from 48 to 54 days and is carried out by both sexes.

● Similar species: Fea's Petrel: This bird is so similar to Zino's Petrel (a bird that breeds only on the island of Madeira) that it is extremely difficult to distinguish one from another. Fea's Petrel is heavier and considerably bigger than Zino's Petrel, especially in bill size. Another similar bird is Herald Petrel in pale morph with its ashy brown head and upperparts and dark M marking across upperwing.

Flight Pattern

Fluttery wing beats alternate with glides., High erratic soaring arcs become higher and more dashing as wind speeds increase.

● Range & Habitat: Fea's Petrel: This bird breeds in the north Atlantic in the Cape Verde Islands and Madeira Islands. It can be seen solitary off North and mid-Atlantic Coasts. Fea's Petrel breeds in areas where there is a thick layer of earth covered with grass. On and around the southern plateau of Bugio there are places with earth more than 3 feet thick, and it is essential that a sufficient depth is available for the birds to construct burrows.

^BreedingMonogamous

^PopulationRare

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight10 - 11 Ounces

Gull-like Body

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Belly

The ventral part of the bird, or the area between the flanks on each side and the crissum and breast. Flight muscles are located between the belly and the breast.

Breast

The upper front part of a bird.

Face

The front part of the head consisting of the bill, eyes, cheeks and chin.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America

Fea's Petrel

Related Birds

Birdman Mel's Backyard Tips

Overview

Range and Habitat

Topo Map: Gull-like Body

Voice Text

Interesting Facts

Bird Term Glossary

Author

Artist

Fea's Petrel

Flight Pattern