General
Fea's Petrel: Medium-sized petrel with gray-brown upperparts and white belly. Breast is white with a partial gray brown breast band. Wings are bent back at the wrist and have a dark M pattern across upperwings and lower back. Underwings are mostly dark. White face shows dark mask around the eyes. Uppertail coverts are pale, tail is gray. Sexes are similar. Some adults are much paler.
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.
Breeding and 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.
Foraging and 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.
Vocalization
Fea's Petrel: Generally silent at sea. Loud shrieks or soft twittering on breeding grounds.
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.