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Petrel Lightvessel
Petrels are tube-nosed seabirds in the bird order Procellariiformes. Description The common name does not indicate relationship beyond that point, as "petrels" occur in three of the four families within that group (all except the albatross family, Diomedeidae). Having a fossil record that was assumed to extend back at least 60 million years, the Procellariiformes was long considered to be among the older bird groupings, other than the ratites, with presumably distant ties to penguins and loons. However, recent research and fossil finds such as ''Vegavis'' show that the Galliformes (pheasants, grouse and relatives), and Anseriformes (ducks, geese) are still not fully resolved. Known species All the members of the order are exclusively pelagic in distribution—returning to land only to breed. The family Procellariidae is the main radiation of medium-sized true petrels, characterised by united nostrils with medium septum, and a long outer functional primary feather. It is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Westland Petrel Flying
Westland or Westlands may refer to: Places *Westlands, an affluent neighbourhood in the city of Nairobi, Kenya * Westlands, Staffordshire, a suburban area and ward in Newcastle-under-Lyme *Westland, a peninsula of the Shetland Mainland near Vaila, Scotland Netherlands *Westland, Netherlands (other) **Westland (municipality), Netherlands **Westland (region), Netherlands New Zealand *Westland District, a political subdivision on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island *Westland Tai Poutini National Park, a national park **Informally, the name often used for the entire West Coast region, of which the Westland District is a part **Westland (New Zealand electorate) a former parliamentary electorate in the above area **Westland Province, a province of New Zealand from 1873–76 United States *Westland, Indiana *Westland, Putnam County, Indiana *Westland, Michigan * Westland, Oregon; see McKay Reservoir *Westland, Pennsylvania *Westland, Virginia *Westland Mall ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Procellariidae
The family Procellariidae is a group of seabirds that comprises the fulmarine petrels, the gadfly petrels, the diving petrels, the prions, and the shearwaters. This family is part of the bird order Procellariiformes (or tubenoses), which also includes the albatrosses and the storm petrels. The procellariids are the most numerous family of tubenoses, and the most diverse. They range in size from the giant petrels with a wingspan of around , that are almost as large as the albatrosses, to the diving petrels with a wingspan of around that are similar in size to the little auks or dovekies in the family Alcidae. Male and female birds are identical in appearance. The plumage color is generally dull, with blacks, whites, browns and grays. The birds feed on fish, squid and crustacea, with many also taking fisheries discards and carrion. Whilst agile swimmers and excellent in water, petrels have weak legs and can only shuffle on land, with the giant petrels of the genus Macronect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bulweria
''Bulweria'' is a genus of seabirds in the family Procellariidae named after English naturalist James Bulwer. The genus has two extant species, Bulwer's petrel and Jouanin's petrel . A third species, the Olson's petrel, became extinct in the early 16th century; it is known only from skeletal remains. Bulwer's petrel ranges in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans, whereas Joaunin's petrel is confined to the northwestern Indian Ocean. Olson's petrel is known from the Atlantic. ''Bulweria'' petrels have long been considered related to the gadfly petrels in the genus ''Pterodroma'', but recent mtDNA cytochrome b, cytochrome ''b'' DNA sequence, sequence analysis has proven them to be closely related to the shearwaters in the genus ''Puffinus'' and especially the ''Procellaria'' petrels. Taxonomy The genus ''Bulweria'' was introduced in 1843 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte to accommodate Bulwer's petrel Bulwer's petrel (''Bulweria bulwerii'') is a small p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Procellaria
Procellaria is a genus of Southern Ocean long-winged seabirds related to prions, and within the order Procellariiformes. The black petrel (''Procellaria parkinsoni'') ranges in the Pacific Ocean, and as far north as Central America. The spectacled petrel (''Procellaria conspicillata'') is confined to the Atlantic Ocean, and the Westland petrel (''Procellaria westlandica'') to the Pacific Ocean. The white-chinned (''Procellaria aequincotialis'') and grey petrel (''Procellaria cinerea'') range throughout the higher latitudes of the Southern Ocean. Taxonomy The genus ''Procellaria'' was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. The name is from the Latin ''procella'' meaning "storm" or "gale". The type species was designated as the white-chinned petrel by George Robert Gray in 1840. The genus ''Procellaria'' is within the Procellariinae clade, which includes the Shearwaters (a monophyletic group comprising '' P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pachyptila
''Pachyptila'' is a genus of seabirds in the family Procellariidae and the order Procellariiformes. The members of this genus and the blue petrel form a sub-group called prions. They range throughout the southern hemisphere, often in the much cooler higher latitudes. Three species, the broad-billed prion (''Pachyptila vittata''), the Antarctic prion (''Pachyptila desolata'') and the fairy prion (''Pachyptila turtur''), range into the subtropics. Taxonomy The genus ''Pachyptila'' was introduced in 1811 by the German zoologist Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger. The name combines the Ancient Greek ''pakhus '' meaning "dense" or "thick" with ''ptilon'' meaning "feather" or "plumage". The type species was subsequently designated as the broad-billed prion by English naturalist Prideaux John Selby in 1840. The English name "prion" comes from the Ancient Greek (', "saw"), in reference to the serrated edges of its bill. All the members of this genus, along with the rest of the Procellariif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prion (bird)
The prions () or whalebirds are small petrels in the genera ''Pachyptila'' and '' Halobaena''. They form one of the four groups within the Procellariidae along with the gadfly petrels, shearwaters and fulmarine petrels. The name comes from the Greek ', meaning "saw", a reference of the serrated edges of the birds' saw-like bill. They are found in the Southern Ocean and breed on a number of subantarctic islands. Prions grow long, and have blue-grey upper parts and white underparts. Three species of prion have flattened bills with a fringe of lamellae that act as strainers for zooplankton.Maynard, B. J. (2003) All prions are marine and feed on small crustacea such as copepods, ostracods, decapods, and krill, as well as some fish such as myctophids and nototheniids. List of species * ''Pachyptila'' ** ''Pachyptila turtur'', fairy prion ** ''Pachyptila belcheri'', slender-billed prion ** ''Pachyptila crassirostris'', fulmar prion ** ''Pachyptila vittata'', broad-billed prion * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snow Petrel
The snow petrel (''Pagodroma nivea'') is the only member of the genus ''Pagodroma.'' It is one of only three birds that has been seen at the Geographic South Pole, along with the Antarctic petrel and the south polar skua, which have the most southerly breeding sites of any bird, inland in Antarctica. Taxonomy The snow petrel was described in 1777 by the German naturalist Georg Forster in his book ''A Voyage Round the World''. He had accompanied James Cook on Cook's second voyage to the Pacific. We particularly observed a petrel, about the size of a pigeon, entirely white, with a black bill and blueish feet; it constantly appeared about the icy masses, and may be looked upon as a sure fore-runner of ice. Forster placed the snow petrel in the genus ''Procellaria'' that had been erected for the petrels by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 and coined the binomial name ''Procellaria nivea''. The snow petrel is now the only species placed in the genus ''Pagodroma'' that was introduced for t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antarctic Petrel
The Antarctic petrel (''Thalassoica antarctica'') is a boldly marked dark brown and white petrel, found in Antarctica, most commonly in the Ross and Weddell Seas. They eat Antarctic krill, fish, and small squid. They feed while swimming but can dive from both the surface and the air. Taxonomy and systematics Captain James Cook saw the Antarctic petrel on his second voyage to the south Pacific. In 1777 both Cook and the naturalist Georg Forster mentioned the petrel in their separate accounts of the voyage. Forster wrote: On the 17th, in the forenoon, we crossed the antarctic circle, and advanced into the southern frigid zone, which had hitherto remained impenetrable to all navigators. Some days before this period we had seen a new species of petrel, of a brown colour, with a white belly and rump, and a large white spot on the wings, which we now named the antarctic petrel, as we saw great flights of twenty on thirty of them hereabouts, of which we shot many that unfortunatel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fulmar
The fulmars are tubenosed seabirds of the family Procellariidae. The family consists of two extant species and two extinct fossil species from the Miocene. Fulmars superficially resemble gulls, but are readily distinguished by their flight on stiff wings, and their tube noses. They breed on cliffs, laying one or rarely two eggs on a ledge of bare rock or on a grassy cliff. Outside the breeding season, they are pelagic, feeding on fish, squid and shrimp in the open ocean. They are long-lived for birds, living for up to 40 years. Historically, the northern fulmar lived on the Isle of St Kilda, where it was extensively hunted. The species has expanded its breeding range southwards to the coasts of England and northern France. Taxonomy The genus ''Fulmarus'' was introduced in 1826 by the English naturalist James Stephens. The name comes from the Old Norse ''Fúlmár'' meaning "foul-mew" or "foul-gull" because of the birds' habit of ejecting a foul-smelling oil. The type specie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giant Petrel
Giant petrels form a genus, ''Macronectes'', from the family Procellariidae, which consists of two species. They are the largest birds of this family. Both species are restricted to the Southern Hemisphere, and though their distributions overlap significantly, with both species breeding on the Prince Edward Islands, Crozet Islands, Kerguelen Islands, Macquarie Island, and South Georgia, many southern giant petrels nest farther south, with colonies as far south as Antarctica. Giant petrels are extremely aggressive predators and scavengers, inspiring another common name, the stinker. South Sea whalers used to call them gluttons. They are the only member of their family that is capable of walking on land. Taxonomy The genus ''Macronectes'' was introduced in 1905 by the American ornithologist Charles Wallace Richmond to accommodate what is now the southern giant petrel. It replaced the previous genus ''Ossifraga'' which was found to have been earlier applied to a different group ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern marine invertebrates than the Pliocene has. The Miocene is preceded by the Oligocene and is followed by the Pliocene. As Earth went from the Oligocene through the Miocene and into the Pliocene, the climate slowly cooled towards a series of ice ages. The Miocene boundaries are not marked by a single distinct global event but consist rather of regionally defined boundaries between the warmer Oligocene and the cooler Pliocene Epoch. During the Early Miocene, the Arabian Peninsula collided with Eurasia, severing the connection between the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean, and allowing a faunal interchange to occur between Eurasia and Africa, including the dispersal of proboscideans into Eurasia. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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