Fregetta grallaria (White-bellied storm-petrel) 

Witpensstormswael [Afrikaans]; Witbuikstormvogeltje [Dutch]; Océanite à ventre blanc [French]; Weißbauch-meeresläufer [German]; Painho-de-ventre-branco [Portuguese]

Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Deuterostomia > Chordata > Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates)  > Gnathostomata (jawed vertebrates) > Teleostomi (teleost fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish) > Class: Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fish) > Stegocephalia (terrestrial vertebrates) > Tetrapoda (four-legged vertebrates) > Reptiliomorpha > Amniota > Reptilia (reptiles) > Romeriida > Diapsida > Archosauromorpha > Archosauria > Dinosauria (dinosaurs) > Saurischia > Theropoda (bipedal predatory dinosaurs) > Coelurosauria > Maniraptora > Aves (birds) > Order: Ciconiiformes > Family: Hydrobatidae

White-bellied storm-petrels, near Ball's pyramid, Lord Howe Island Marine Park, Pacific Ocean. [photo Jack Shick ©]

Distribution and habitat

Breeds on islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, South Indian Ocean and South Pacific Ocean, dispersing in the non-breeding season to the subtropics and occasionally the Northern Hemisphere, extending into southern African waters below of 37° South, with occasional vagrant records along the coast of South Africa and southern Namibia.

Movements and migrations

It is present at its breeding colonies from September-May; it is mainly recorded in southern Africa outside of this period.

Food 

It mainly eats fish, squid, crustaceans, scraps and offal, doing most of its foraging with other seabirds such as Cory's shearwaters, grabbing prey from the surface of the sea.

Threats

Not threatened, although it has been negatively effected by the introduction of Black rats (Rattus rattus) at its Tristan da Cunha colony.

References

• Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ and Ryan PG 2005. Roberts - Birds of southern Africa, VIIth ed. The Trustees of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.