Lugensa brevirostris (Kerguelen
petrel)
Kerguelense stormvoël [Afrikaans]; Pétrel de Kerguelen
[French]; Kerguelensturmvogel [German]; Painho das Kerguelen [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: Procellariidae
Distribution and habitat
Breeds on sub-Antarctic islands in the period from
August-February, after which it disperses across the southern oceans, generally
staying within 40-70° South. It is usually not present in southern Africa, with
only 17 records before 1984, although between July-August 1984 at least 233
individuals occurred from the area west of the Northern Cape to coastal KwaZulu-Natal
(the last record of it in southern African waters), with eruptions at the same
time off South America and Australasia.
Food
It mainly eats crustaceans and squid, supplemented with
fish and offal, doing most of its foraging at night by grabbing prey from the
water surface.
Threats
Not threatened, although direct exploitation and introduced
predators at colony sites have negatively affected its breeding success.
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.
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