Frigate Petrel
| Frigate Petrel | ||||||||||||
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Frigate Petrel ( Pelagodroma marina ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Pelagodroma | ||||||||||||
| Reichenbach , 1853 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Pelagodroma marina | ||||||||||||
| ( Latham , 1790) |
The frigate petrel ( Pelagodroma marina ), also known as the white-faced petrel , is a species of the southern petrel family. It occurs in six subspecies, two of which are found in the Western Palearctic. Contrary to what the name implies, this species is not a ship's heir.
description
The frigate petrel can be easily distinguished from other petrels due to its plumage. The parting is gray-brown, the neck and back are dark gray. The face - including forehead, over-eye stripe, beard stripe and chin - is white like the entire underside and the under wing coverts. A dark gray-brown mask around the eye that extends down to the cheek stands out from this. The gray sides of the neck reach down to the sides of the chest. The wing feathers of the rounded, paddle-shaped wings are black and become grayer towards the umbrella feathers. The edge covers and the hand covers are brown, the middle and large arm covers are ash gray. The black, angular and short pile stands out clearly against the ash-gray rump. The beak, like the strikingly long legs and feet, is black, the webbed feet are yellow.
The frigate storm swallow reaches a body length of eight to twenty-one centimeters. During the breeding season, it weighs between 42 and 60 grams. Their wingspan is 41 to 43 centimeters.
The fast flight of this kind is restless and swinging sideways. Sometimes the bird appears to be hopping over the waves with its legs hanging down.
voice
The calls from the breeding caves are a dull, lined up kooh with scattered, screeching kiih sounds.
Distribution and existence
The breeding areas of this species are the Canaries , the Ilhas Selvagens and the Cape Verde Islands . In the South Atlantic it occurs as a breeding bird on the islands of Tristan da Cunha and Gough as well as several islands around Australia and New Zealand. The world population is very large and amounts to several million individuals. There are 61,000 breeding pairs in the Madeira Archipelago and fifty to sixty breeding pairs in the Canaries.
Way of life
In the Western Palearctic, the species is largely restricted to warm and deep ocean areas. Breeding colonies can be found on small, arid, often volcanic islands that have enough soil for the birds to dig their breeding burrows. Frigate petrels usually breed in colonies, but outside of the breeding season they can usually only be observed individually.
supporting documents
literature
- Hans-Günther Bauer, Einhard Bezzel and Wolfgang Fiedler (eds.): The compendium of birds in Central Europe: Everything about biology, endangerment and protection. Volume 1: Nonpasseriformes - non-sparrow birds. Aula-Verlag Wiebelsheim, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-89104-647-2 .
- GS Tuck, H. Heinzel: The sea birds of the world , Paul Parey publishing house, Hamburg / Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-490-07818-7
- L. Svensson, PJ Grant, K. Mularney, D. Zetterström: Der neue Kosmos-Vogelführer , Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-440-07720-9
Single receipts
Web links
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Pelagodroma marina in the Internet Bird Collection
- Pelagodroma marina in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2009. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2009. Accessed July 26 of 2010.