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Southern Giant Petrel

The southern giant petrel is a powerful seabird famous for scavenging like vultures of the sea.

 

The southern giant petrel is a massive seabird with a wingspan that can exceed 2 meters (6.5 feet).  It has a broad body and a large, yellowish bill tipped with a pale green hook. Most petrels have grey-brown plumage on their back with a white-ish head and neck, but some individuals in southern giant petrel populations are almost completely white. They look similar to their close relatives, northern giant petrels, and the two birds share an overlapping range, which can make identifying which bird is which challenging. Both birds are found throughout the Southern Ocean, but southern giant petrels — true to their name — travel further south to the Antarctic coast. 

When not on the wing, they typically/normally breed in loose colonies on subantarctic islands and coastal Antarctica, nesting on open or grassy ground. Pairs will typically hatch a single egg together each season. Southern giant petrels feed on a wide variety of food, including fish, squid, krill, and carrion,  well known for scavenging seal and penguin carcasses along shorelines.  Their diet can vary by sex — females tend to hunt more live prey, while males often choose carrion. 

 

 

In the past, southern giant petrels were killed by trawl fishers in the Falkland Islands and longline fishers in the Southern Ocean. However, after improvements in the fishery industries, their rate of being incidentally caught has greatly decreased, and they are currently not known to face any major threats.

 

 

Improvements in legal fisheries in Antarctic and subantarctic waters have caused the numbers of southern giant petrels from dying as bycatch to decline. Continued work to ensure responsible fisheries is important to decrease the unintentional catching of southern giant petrels and other animals in fishing gear. Learn more about Oceana’s campaigns to promote responsible fishing.

 

 

  • Australian Antarctic Data Center: Macronectes giganteus 
  • Australian Antarctic Program: Southern giant petrel 
  • Carlos, C.J. (2008) Identifying giant petrels, Macronectes giganteus and M. halli, in the field and in the hand. Seabird Journal 21: 1-15.  
  • IUCN Red List 
  • Otovic, S., Riley, M., Hay, I., McKinlay, J., van den Hoff, J., & Wienecke, B.  (2018) The annual cycle of Southern Giant Petrels Macronectes giganteus in East Antarctica. Marine Ornithology 46: 129–138. 
  • Pattenson, D.L., Woehler, E.J., Croxall, J.P., et al. (2008) Breeding distribution and population status of the Northern Giant Petrel Macronectes halli and Southern Giant Petrel M. giganteus. Marine Ornithology 36: 115–124. 

 

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