Category:Procellariidae - BirdForum Opus

Family: Procellariidae

Description

Petrels, Shearwaters, and allies. All procellariiformes (Fulmars, Petrels, Albatrosses, Shearwaters etc) have these external nostrils/'tubenose' which enables them to excrete salt from their food intake and allows them to have a very keen sense of smell (cf. to other species of birds) necessary for hunting fish at sea. Since they spend all their time out of the breeding season at sea and travel vast distances, it's also thought they convert much of their food intake in the stomach to oil (for example 'Fulmar Oil') to conserve/carry energy which is obviously easier to carry than bulky food stuff when flying long distances - The stomach oil is also used to used to feed chicks (being rich in nutrients). It's also used as a defense mechanism (sort of like vomiting you get in some species, or ink ejection from squid etc) especially by Fulmar chicks who squirt it out from the nostril or throat (with some venom!) at potential predators. The oil is also thought to be an additional preening oil to supplement that from the preen glands.

Taxonomy

Procellariidae is a family in the order Procellariiformes.

Family Procellariidae view • edit
	Genus Macronectes view • edit M. giganteus Southern Giant Petrel M. halli Northern Giant Petrel
	Genus Fulmarus view • edit F. glacialis Northern Fulmar F. glacialoides Southern Fulmar
	Genus Thalassoica view • edit T. antarctica Antarctic Petrel
	Genus Daption view • edit D. capense Cape Petrel
	Genus Pagodroma view • edit P. nivea Snow Petrel
	Genus Aphrodroma view • edit A. brevirostris Kerguelen Petrel
	Genus Pterodroma view • edit P. macroptera Great-winged Petrel P. gouldi Grey-faced Petrel P. neglecta Kermadec Petrel P. magentae Magenta Petrel P. arminjoniana Trindade Petrel P. heraldica Herald Petrel P. ultima Murphy's Petrel P. solandri Providence Petrel P. atrata Henderson Petrel P. madeira Zino's Petrel P. feae Fea's Petrel P. mollis Soft-plumaged Petrel P. baraui Barau's Petrel P. lessonii White-headed Petrel P. inexpectata Mottled Petrel P. cahow Bermuda Petrel P. hasitata Black-capped Petrel P. caribbaea Jamaican Petrel P. externa Juan Fernandez Petrel P. incerta Atlantic Petrel P. phaeopygia Galapagos Petrel P. sandwichensis Hawaiian Petrel P. cervicalis White-necked Petrel P. hypoleuca Bonin Petrel P. nigripennis Black-winged Petrel P. axillaris Chatham Petrel P. cookii Cook's Petrel P. defilippiana Masatierra Petrel P. leucoptera Gould's Petrel P. brevipes Collared Petrel P. longirostris Stejneger's Petrel P. pycrofti Pycroft's Petrel P. alba Phoenix Petrel P. occulta Vanuatu Petrel
	Genus Halobaena view • edit H. caerulea Blue Petrel
	Genus Pachyptila view • edit P. turtur Fairy Prion P. vittata Broad-billed Prion P. salvini Salvin's Prion P. macgillivrayi MacGillivray's Prion P. desolata Antarctic Prion P. belcheri Slender-billed Prion P. crassirostris Fulmar Prion
	Genus Bulweria view • edit B. bulwerii Bulwer's Petrel B. fallax Jouanin's Petrel
	Genus Pseudobulweria view • edit P. macgillivrayi Fiji Petrel P. aterrima Mascarene Petrel P. rostrata Tahiti Petrel P. becki Beck's Petrel
	Genus Procellaria view • edit P. cinerea Grey Petrel P. aequinoctialis White-chinned Petrel P. conspicillata Spectacled Petrel P. parkinsoni Parkinson's Petrel P. westlandica Westland Petrel
	Genus Calonectris view • edit C. leucomelas Streaked Shearwater C. diomedea Cory's Shearwater C. edwardsii Cape Verde Shearwater
	Genus Ardenna view • edit A. creatopus Pink-footed Shearwater A. carneipes Flesh-footed Shearwater A. gravis Great Shearwater A. pacifica Wedge-tailed Shearwater A. bulleri Buller's Shearwater A. grisea Sooty Shearwater A. tenuirostris Short-tailed Shearwater
	Genus Puffinus view • edit P. nativitatis Christmas Shearwater P. subalaris Galapagos Shearwater P. puffinus Manx Shearwater P. yelkouan Yelkouan Shearwater P. mauretanicus Balearic Shearwater P. huttoni Hutton's Shearwater P. auricularis Townsend's Shearwater P. newelli Newell's Shearwater P. myrtae Rapa Shearwater P. bryani Bryan's Shearwater P. opisthomelas Black-vented Shearwater P. gavia Fluttering Shearwater P. assimilis Little Shearwater P. baroli Barolo Shearwater P. boydi Boyd's Shearwater P. lherminieri Audubon's Shearwater P. bailloni Tropical Shearwater P. persicus Persian Shearwater P. heinrothi Heinroth's Shearwater
	Genus Pelecanoides view • edit P. garnotii Peruvian Diving Petrel P. urinatrix Common Diving Petrel P. georgicus South Georgia Diving Petrel P. magellani Magellanic Diving Petrel

References

The description piece was written by deborah4 and included in this thread