Blue Petrel

Halobaena caerulea (Gmelin, JF, 1789)

Blue Petrel, Halobaena caerulea, breeds on subantarctic islands in the Southern Ocean, mainly south of the Antarctic Convergence from Diego Ramirez and Cape Horn to Macquarie Island. Outside the breeding season it ranges into Antarctic waters and also reaches waters off southern South America and southern Australia. It is a petrel in the family Procellariidae and the only species in Halobaena. The bird is mostly blue-grey, with a dark band across the upperwing, a black cap, white cheeks, a white underside, dark neck patches and a square tail with a white tip.

Order

Procellariiformes

Family

Procellariidae — Petrels, Shearwaters, Diving Petrels

Breeding range

Southern Ocean: islands of subantarctic Atlantic and Indian oceans mostly s of Antarctic Convergence from Diego Ramirez (s of Tierra del Fuego) and Cape Horn (s South America) to Macquarie (far se of Australia)

Nonbreeding range

forages to Antarctic waters; disperses to waters of s South America and s Australia