Thalassoica antarctica (Antarctic
petrel)
Antarktiese stormvoël [Afrikaans]; Antarctische
stormvogel [Dutch]; Pétrel antarctique [French]; Grauweißer sturmvogel
[German]; Pintado-antárctico [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 at Gough Island and Tristan da Cunha, dispersing
through the South Atlantic Ocean to the east coast of South America from 20-60°
South, while it is a rare vagrant to southern African waters. Here it is mainly
recorded from July-November in the south-western corner of the region, with
isolated sightings off central Namibia, the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
Food
It mainly eats squid, supplemented with fish, crustaceans
and trawler offal and discards, doing most of its foraging by grabbing prey from
the water surface.
Threats
Vulnerable, as its Tristan da Cunha colony has
greatly reduced in size due to human exploitation and introduced rats (Rattus),
while chicks on Gough Island are killed by House mice (Mus musculus).
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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