Storm Petrels

All 2 species of storm petrels on WAnimals

Each one has its own full profile. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.

Conservation status

Where they live

Recorded in 27 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:

Where to see them

Did you know…?

• It weighs less than thirty grams and can live more than thirty years: one of the greatest mismatches between size and longevity of any bird.

  From

• It enters the colony only on the darkest nights, and pairs find one another among thousands of identical crevices by smell and by a purring call given from inside the nest for hours on end.

  From

• It seems to walk on water: it holds itself aloft on its wings while pattering the surface with its feet to stir up plankton, behaviour that gave the group its English name, petrel, in reference to Saint Peter walking on the waves.

  From

• It is one of the most abundant birds in the world, with tens of millions of individuals, and at the same time one of the least seen: it spends its life on the open sea and only comes ashore at night at Antarctic colonies.

  From

Ecosystems