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The word petrel (first recorded in that spelling 1703) comes from earlier (ca. 1670) pitteral; the English explorer William Dampier wrote 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); if so, it likely was formed in English as a diminutive of Peter (< Old French: Peterelle ...
In general, petrels were considered to be "soul birds", representing the souls of drowned sailors, and it was considered unlucky to touch them. [78] In the Russian language, many petrel species from the Hydrobatidae and Procellariidae families of the order Procellariiformes are known as burevestnik, which literally means 'the announcer of the ...
The European storm petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus), also known as British storm petrel, or just storm petrel, is a species of seabird in the northern storm petrel family, Hydrobatidae. The small, square-tailed bird is entirely black except for a broad, white rump and a white band on the under wings, and it has a fluttering, bat-like flight.
The fulmarine petrels include the largest procellariids, the giant petrels, as well as the two fulmar species, the snow petrel, the Antarctic petrel, and the Cape petrel. The fulmarine petrels are a diverse group with differing habits and appearances, but are linked morphologically by their skull features, particularly the long prominent nasal ...
Gould's petrel is the name chosen by W.B. Alexander in his classic work Birds of the Ocean. [9] Gould described this bird in 1844, naming it Cook's petrel (Procellaria cookii) after James Cook. [10] In his 1865 Handbook he changed the name to white-winged petrel (Aestrelata leucoptera). [11] Today it is known as Gould's petrel (Pterodroma ...
The Bermuda petrel (Pterodroma cahow) is a gadfly petrel. Commonly known in Bermuda as the cahow, a name derived from its eerie cries, this nocturnal ground-nesting seabird is the national bird of Bermuda, pictured on Bermudian currency. Bermuda petrels are the second rarest seabird on the planet.
The northern storm petrels are found in the Northern Hemisphere, although some species around the Equator dip into the south. They are strictly pelagic, coming to land only when breeding. In the case of most species, little is known of their behaviour and distribution at sea, where they can be hard to find and harder to identify.
The fork-tailed storm petrel incubates a single egg in its burrow. Like other species, fork-tailed storm petrels spend most of their time out at sea and only return to land to breed around late March to early April. To avoid predation and harassment by gulls, these birds only enter the colony at night and depart before sunrise. [12]