Fairly small and very distinctively patterned petrel of cool southern waters; regular migrant north to Humboldt Current.
At a glance
Sounds
Range map
Range map
Aggregated occurance data is sourced from 14 different actively-updating datasets including eBird Australia, iNaturalist Australia, BirdLife Australia, and multiple state-based bird surveys through Atlas of Living Australia.
Species notes
Overview
A “professional” ship follower in the Southern Ocean, often in groups that circle a vessel for hours. Extent of white spotting on upperparts rather variable, but no other petrel has this white-spattered or “painted” pattern; pintado means painted in Spanish and is also an anagram of the genus name, Daption.
Behavior
Historically, it was also sometimes known as "Cape pigeon", due to early sailors thinking it resembled a pigeon . First, they have nasal passages that attach to the upper bill called naricorns . Two subspecies are recognised, though intermediates occur: During breeding season, pintado petrels feed at sea around Antarctica , and during the winter they range further north, as far as Angola and the Galapagos Islands.
Gallery