Herald Petrel

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

Codes: Common Name: HEPE Scientific Name: PTEARM ITIS Taxonomic No.: 174570

Illustration © Copyright 2002-2007 Whatbird.com
Click here for licensing information

Percevia^® Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The Percevia field guides, database and search protocol patent pending.

The best bird guide and bird watching search engine to identify birds!

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.

Herald Petrel

Herald Petrel: Medium petrel, three color morphs: light, intermediate, dark. Dark morph is dark gray overall, silver-gray to white base on underwing flight feathers. Light morph has white breast, belly and dark gray upperparts. Intermediate forms exist between light and dark morphs. Gray legs, feet.

● Song: "ki ki ki ki"

● Foraging & Feeding: Herald Petrel: This bird is mostly pelagic and spends the majority of its time at sea where it feeds on squid and crustaceans. When looking for food, it skims water, grabs prey with bill, and ingests while in flight.

● Breeding & nesting: Herald Petrel: One white egg is laid in a burrow which is excavated or cleaned out by both sexes. For their breeding grounds Herald petrels choose warm islands and do not line burrows with any nest materials. Incubation ranges from 49 to 54 days and is carried out by both parents.

● Similar species: Herald Petrel: Sooty Shearwater has light underwings, shorter tail, broader, more stout body, high forehead and a very different flight pattern. Murphy's Petrel has white at the base of its bill.

Flight Pattern

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

● Range & Habitat: Herald Petrel: These birds prefer water below the Equator but were recorded as far north as North Carolina where it is a rare but regular visitor in late spring to late summer. It is known to breed on Raine Island and possibly other small cays in the Coral Sea, and forage in surrounding waters. This bird is mostly pelagic and spends its life at sea coming to nesting grounds only to breed. For breeding it chooses warm islands with soils suitable for nesting burrows.

^BreedingMonogamous

^PopulationRare

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight5.7 Ounces

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

Herald Petrel

Herald Petrel

Flight Pattern