Birds
Antarctic Petrel
Thalassoica antarctica · also called Antarctic petrels
Breeding on exposed rock outcrops hundreds of kilometres inside the Antarctic continent, an Antarctic petrel gathers in colonies of hundreds of thousands of pairs, pushing further south than almost any other flying bird on Earth.
Overview
The Antarctic petrel, Thalassoica antarctica, is a brown-and-white seabird native to ocean and polar habitat across Antarctica and the surrounding Southern Ocean. Its extraordinary inland breeding range, massive colony sizes, and reliance on productive pack ice edges for foraging make it one of the most extreme and specialised seabirds found anywhere on the continent.
A colony deep inside a frozen continent
Few birds attempt to breed as far into Antarctica’s interior as the Antarctic petrel does, exploiting isolated rock outcrops far from the coast to form colonies of extraordinary size, even at the cost of a long commute back to productive feeding grounds at sea.
Status
Least Concern, remaining widespread across suitable Antarctic habitat, though closely tied to sea ice conditions that are changing in parts of its range.
Antarctic Petrel: common questions
How far into Antarctica does the Antarctic petrel breed?
This species breeds further south than almost any other flying bird, forming colonies on exposed rock outcrops deep within the Antarctic interior, often hundreds of kilometres from the nearest open water.
How large can an Antarctic petrel colony get?
This species forms extremely large breeding colonies, with some sites holding hundreds of thousands of breeding pairs gathered on suitable rock exposures deep within the continent.
Why does the Antarctic petrel depend so heavily on pack ice?
This species forages heavily around pack ice edges, relying on the productive waters associated with ice margins to find the krill and fish that make up most of its diet.
What does an Antarctic petrel look like?
This species has a distinctive brown-and-white plumage pattern, with a dark brown back and head contrasting against a white belly and underwing, visible clearly in flight.