The South Georgia diving petrel or Georgian diving-petrel (''Pelecanoides georgicus'') is one of five very similar small
auk
An auk or alcid is a bird of the family Alcidae in the order Charadriiformes. The alcid family includes the murres, guillemots, auklets, puffins, and murrelets. The word "auk" is derived from Icelandic ''álka'', from Old Norse ''alka'' (a ...
-like
diving petrel
The diving petrels form a genus, ''Pelecanoides'', of seabirds in the family Procellariidae. There are four very similar species of diving petrels, distinguished only by small differences in the coloration of their plumage, habitat, and bill co ...
s of the southern oceans. It is native to the
South Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
and islands of the southern
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...
and south-eastern
Australia.
Taxonomy and nomenclature
The American
ornithologist Robert Cushman Murphy
The whaling ship, ''Daisy'', which Murphy traveled on to the Antarctic
Robert Cushman Murphy (April 29, 1887 – March 20, 1973) was an American ornithologist and Lamont Curator of birds at the American Museum of Natural History. He went on numer ...
and the zoologist
Francis Harper described the South Georgia diving petrel in 1916. Its specific name, ''georgicus,'' is derived from the
South Georgia islands where they identified the species. Other common names include ''puffinure de Géorgie du Sud'' (French), ''Breitschnabel Lummensturmvogel'' (German), and ''potoyunco de Georgia'' (Spanish). A unique New Zealand population is now considered a separate species, the
Whenua Hou diving petrel
The Whenua Hou diving-petrel (''Pelecanoides georgicus whenuahouensis'') is a highly endangered subspecies of the South Georgia diving petrel that is endemic to New Zealand.
The subspecies was first described by Johannes H. Fischer and collab ...
.
Description
The South Georgia diving petrel is a small, plump petrel, in length and weighing around . Its
plumage is black above and dull white below, and it has a stubby black bill with pale blue edges. The wings have thin white strips. The face and neck can be more brown than black. The legs are blue with posterior black lines down the
tarsi. Unless seen very close, it is almost indistinguishable from the
common diving petrel; the common diving petrel has brown inner web primary feathers, whereas the South Georgia diving petrel has light inner web feathering. Common diving petrels have smaller and narrower bills than the South Georgia diving petrel, and there are also slight size differences.
Distribution and habitat
This species nests in colonies on
Subantarctic
The sub-Antarctic zone is a region in the Southern Hemisphere, located immediately north of the Antarctic region. This translates roughly to a latitude of between 46° and 60° south of the Equator. The subantarctic region includes many islands ...
islands. It breeds on South Georgia in the south Atlantic and on the
Prince Edward Islands
The Prince Edward Islands are two small uninhabited islands in the sub-Antarctic Indian Ocean that are part of South Africa. The islands are named Marion Island (named after Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne, 1724–1772) and Prince Edward Island ...
,
Crozet Islands,
Kerguelen Islands and
Heard Island and McDonald Islands
The Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands (HIMI) is an Australian external territory comprising a volcanic group of mostly barren Antarctic islands, about two-thirds of the way from Madagascar to Antarctica. The group's overall size ...
in the southern Indian Ocean.
It disperses to surrounding seas and
vagrants
Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, tempora ...
have been recorded in the
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouze ...
and
Australia. While nesting burrows are usually built on scree slopes above the vegetation line, they are occasionally built on flat land.
Behaviour
The South Georgia diving petrel feeds primarily on
plankton
Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in water (or air) that are unable to propel themselves against a current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankters. In the ocean, they provide a crucia ...
ic
crustacean
Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...
s, particularly
krill
Krill are small crustaceans of the order Euphausiacea, and are found in all the world's oceans. The name "krill" comes from the Norwegian word ', meaning "small fry of fish", which is also often attributed to species of fish.
Krill are consi ...
, but will also feed on small fish and young
cephalopods. Breeding season is October–February. The female lays one egg that is incubated for 44–52 days. Fledging occurs in 43–60 days. Threats to the South Georgia diving petrel include
skua
The skuas are a group of predatory seabirds with seven species forming the genus ''Stercorarius'', the only genus in the family Stercorariidae. The three smaller skuas, the long-tailed skua, the Arctic skua, and the pomarine skua are called ...
s, cats and rats. South Georgia diving petrels are noted for their diving capabilities: "The most proficient divers of the order ''Procellariformes'' are likely to be the diving petrels in the family ''Pelecanoididae''." Dive depths for the South Georgia diving petrel have been recorded to , with most in the range of .
References
External links
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1270542
South Georgia diving petrel
Birds of islands of the Atlantic Ocean
Birds of the Indian Ocean
Birds of the Campbell Islands
Birds of subantarctic islands
Fauna of the Prince Edward Islands
Fauna of Heard Island and McDonald Islands
Fauna of the Crozet Islands
Fauna of the Auckland Islands
South Georgia diving petrel
South Georgia diving petrel
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot