Pterodroma lessonii (White-headed
petrel)
Witkopstormvoël [Afrikaans]; Witkopstormvogel [Dutch];
Pétrel de Lesson [French]; Weißkopf-sturmvogel [German];
Freira-de-cabeça-branca [Portuguese]
Life
> Eukaryotes >
Opisthokonta
> Metazoa (animals) >
Bilateria >
Deuterostomia > Chordata >
Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates) > Gnathostomata (jawed
vertebrates) > Teleostomi (teleost fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish) > Class:
Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned
fish) > Stegocephalia (terrestrial
vertebrates) > Tetrapoda
(four-legged vertebrates) > Reptiliomorpha > Amniota >
Reptilia (reptiles) >
Romeriida > Diapsida > Archosauromorpha > Archosauria >
Dinosauria
(dinosaurs) > Saurischia > Theropoda (bipedal predatory dinosaurs) >
Coelurosauria > Maniraptora > Aves
(birds) > Order: Ciconiiformes
> Family: Procellariidae
Distribution and habitat
Breeds at Kuerguelen, Macquire, Antipodes, Crozets and
Aukland Island, after which it disperses across southern oceans between 30-65°
South. It is a rare vagrant to southern Africa, with isolated records in the
south-west corner of the region as well closer to the South African coast.
Food
It mainly eats squid and crustaceans, doing most of its
foraging by grabbing prey from the water surface.
Threats
Not threatened, although negatively affected by the
introduction of pigs, rats and cats and its breeding colonies.
References
-
Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ and Ryan PG 2005. Roberts
- Birds of southern Africa, VIIth ed. The Trustees of the John Voelcker
Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.
|