ClipArt ETC
A seabird or petrel, the northern species being most common.

Fulmar

A seabird or petrel, the northern species being most common.

The cape petrel or fulmar is about the size of a small duck and inhabits the southern seas.

Cape Fulmar

The cape petrel or fulmar is about the size of a small duck and inhabits the southern seas.

Petrels never dive, and rarely swim. Instead they skim rapidly over the waves looking for food.

Petrel

Petrels never dive, and rarely swim. Instead they skim rapidly over the waves looking for food.

Petrels resemble gulls, except in having the nostrils open as two parallel tubes on the top of the beak.

Petrel

Petrels resemble gulls, except in having the nostrils open as two parallel tubes on the top of the beak.

Petrels have a fossil record that extends back at least 60 million years, it is among the oldest bird groupings. They are characterised by a united nostrils with medium septum, and a long outer functional primary. It is dominant in the Southern Oceans, but not so in the Northern Hemisphere.

Petrel

Petrels have a fossil record that extends back at least 60 million years, it is among the oldest bird…

A genus of sea-birds. They include many species, all of which have webbed feet and long and strong wings. The nasal tubes are united, the beak is as long as the head, and the upper mandible is hooked. They live almost constantly on the ocean.

Petrel

A genus of sea-birds. They include many species, all of which have webbed feet and long and strong wings.…

Distributed throughout the northern regions of the Atlantic, the fulmar petrel prefers to nest in the rocky precipices of the coast.

Fulmar Petrel

Distributed throughout the northern regions of the Atlantic, the fulmar petrel prefers to nest in the…

The smallest of the web-footed birds, the stormy petrel averages only about six inches in length.

Stormy Petrel

The smallest of the web-footed birds, the stormy petrel averages only about six inches in length.

"Petrel is a popular name for certain small oceanic birds of dusky plumage, nocturnal in habit, widely distributed but most abundant in the Southern Hemisphere. The term stormy petrel is more exclusively applied to the Thalassidroma pelagica, a bird which seems to run in a remarkable manner along the surface of the sea, where it picks up its food. This species was well known to sailors as Mother Carey's chickens (q. v.), and their appearance is supposed to foretell a storm."—(Charles Leonard-Stuart, 1911)

Stormy Petrel

"Petrel is a popular name for certain small oceanic birds of dusky plumage, nocturnal in habit, widely…