Petrel

This article is about the seabird. For other uses, see Petrel (disambiguation).

"Peterel" redirects here. For the Royal Navy ship using this archaic spelling, see HMS Peterel.

A Westland petrel

Petrels are tube-nosed seabirds in the phylogenetic order Procellariiformes.

Description

Petrels are a monophyletic ^[1] group of marine seabirds, sharing a characteristic of a nostril arrangement that results in the name "tubenoses". ^[2] Petrels encompass three of the four extant families within the Procellariiformes order, namely Procellariidae (fulmarine petrels, gadfly petrels, diving petrels, prions, and shearwaters), Hydrobatidae (northern storm petrels), and Oceanitidae (austral storm petrels). The remaining family in Procellariiformes is the albatross family, Diomedeidae.

Procellariiformes Diomedeidae – albatrosses (21 species) Oceanitidae – austral storm petrels (10 species) Hydrobatidae – northern storm petrels (18 species) Procellariidae – petrels and shearwaters (100 species)

Phylogeny of the extant procellariforms based on a study by Richard Prum and colleagues published in 2015. [1] Petrels (Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, and Oceanitidae) form a monophyletic group according to this cladogram.

Etymology

The word petrel (first recorded in that spelling 1602) comes from likely earlier (though not recorded until 1676) pitteral or pittrel, and refers to the way the storm petrel patters with its feet over the sea surface. ^[3] The English explorer William Dampier wrote^{[ citation needed ]} the bird was so called from its way of flying with its feet just skimming the surface of the water, recalling Saint Peter's walk on the sea of Galilee (Matthew xiv.28), being formed in English as a diminutive of Peter (< Old French : Peterelle (?) < Late Latin : Peterellus < Late Latin : Petrus < Ancient Greek : Πέτρος, romanized: Petros < Ancient Greek : πέτρα, romanized: petra = "stone"); this connection is however due to later speculation. ^[3]

Known species

All the members of the order are exclusively pelagic in distribution, returning to land only to breed.

The family Hydrobatidae comprises the northern storm petrels, the "true" petrels of the Northern Hemisphere, characterised by very small size, pattering flight while feeding, and strictly nocturnal behaviour when visiting their breeding sites on remote islands. The 18 species currently accepted are now all included in the genus Hydrobates , after the former genus Oceanodroma was shown to be paraphyletic with respect to Hydrobates. ^[4] Despite their tiny size, they are remakably long-lived, with European storm petrel known to exceed 38 years even though only weighing 20–30 g (slightly less than a house sparrow). ^[5]

The family Procellariidae is the main radiation of medium-sized petrels and shearwaters, characterised by united nostrils with medium septum, and a long outer functional primary feather. It is dominant in the Southern Oceans, but less so in the Northern Hemisphere.

It includes a number of petrel groups, the relationships between which have finally been resolved to satisfaction. ^{[6] [7] [8] [9]}

• The fulmarine petrels: seven species of surface predators and filter feeders, breed in high latitudes but migrate along cool currents to the north. All but Fulmarus are essentially confined to the south, Fulmarus apparently colonised the Northern Hemisphere during the Early Miocene.
  • The huge giant petrels, genus Macronectes, which are convergent with the albatrosses in size, though not behaviour
  • The true fulmars, genus Fulmarus
  • Antarctic petrel Thalassoica antarctica
  • Cape petrel Daption capense
  • Snow petrel Pagodroma nivea
• The prions: A specialised group of a few very numerous species, all southern. They have a small, fulmar-like form and mostly filter-feed on zooplankton.
  • Pachyptila , the prions proper
• The procellariine petrels, larger or mid-sized species feeding on fish and molluscs which are fairly close to the prions:
  • Procellaria
  • Bulweria
• Shearwaters: There are numerous species in several genera with a medium number of species.
  • Calonectris
  • Puffinus , which is two rather distinct groups of larger and smaller species
  • Pseudobulweria
  • Kerguelen petrel Lugensa brevirostris
• The gadfly petrels: These are a considerable number of agile short-billed petrels in the genus Pterodroma which include the endangered Bermuda petrel (or cahow) and a considerable number of forms rendered extinct by human activity.
• The diving petrels: These are the four species of superficially auk-like small petrels of the southern oceans in the genus Pelacanoides.

Many members of this family are also extraordinarily long-lived for their size, with Manx shearwater known to exceed 50 years. ^[10]

The family Oceanitidae is the austral (or southern) storm petrels. They are small pelagic petrels with a fluttering flight which often follow ships. They show marked convergence with the northern Hydrobatidae in size and behaviour, but are actually more closely related to albatrosses than they are to the other petrels. ^[4]

In culture

Petrels are culturally significant,^{[ citation needed ]} and well-known poems have been written about the bird. One such example is given here.

Up and down! - up and down!
From the base of the wave to the billow’s crown,
And amidst the flashing and feathery foam
The stormy petrel finds a home, -
A home, if such a place may be
For her who lives on the wide, wide sea.

O’er the deep! - o’er the deep!
Where the whale and the shark and the sword-fish sleep, -
Outflying the blast and the driving rain,
The petrel telleth her tale — in vain!

— From "The Stormy Petrel" poem by Barry Cornwall ^[11]

See also

• Birds portal

• Skua
• Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels

• 9M730 Burevestnik
• Burevestnik-24

References

1. Prum, R.O.; Berv, J.S.; Dornburg, A.; Field, D.J.; Townsend, J.P.; Lemmon, E.M.; Lemmon, A.R. (2015). "A comprehensive phylogeny of birds (Aves) using targeted next-generation DNA sequencing". Nature. 526 (7574): 569–573. Bibcode:2015Natur.526..569P. doi:10.1038/nature15697. PMID   26444237. S2CID   205246158.
2. "Petrels and Shearwaters | Bird Family Overview". The RSPB.
3. Lockwood, William Burley (1984). The Oxford Book of British Bird Names. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 115–116. ISBN   0-19-214155-4.
4. "Petrels, albatrosses – IOC World Bird List". IOC World Bird List – Version 14.2. 2025-02-20. Retrieved 2025-11-26.
5. "Storm Petrel". BTO. Retrieved 2025-11-26.
6. Austin, Jeremy J. (1996). "Molecular Phylogenetics of Puffinus Shearwaters: Preliminary Evidence from Mitochondrial Cytochrome b Gene Sequences". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 6 (1): 77–88. Bibcode:1996MolPE...6...77A. doi:10.1006/mpev.1996.0060. PMID   8812308.
7. Bretagnolle, V., Attié, C., Pasquet, E. (1998). "Cytochrome-B evidence for validity and phylogenetic relationships of Pseudobulweria and Bulweria (Procellariidae)" (PDF). Auk. 115(1 (1): 188–195. doi:10.2307/4089123. JSTOR   4089123.
8. Nunn, Gary B. & Stanley, Scott E. (1998). "Body Size Effects and Rates of Cytochrome b Evolution in Tube-Nosed Seabirds" (PDF). Molecular Biology and Evolution. 15 (10): 1360–1371. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a025864 . PMID   9787440. Corrigendum
9. Brooke, M. (2004): Albatrosses and Petrels Across the World. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. ISBN   0-19-850125-0
10. "Manx Shearwater". BTO. Retrieved 2025-11-26.
11. A Library of Poetry and Song: Being Choice Selections from The Best Poets. With An Introduction by William Cullen Bryant, New York, J.B. Ford and Company, 1871, p. 354.

External links

• The dictionary definition of petrel at Wiktionary
• Petrel and shearwater videos on the Internet Bird Collection
• Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP)