Kerguelen Petrel

Kerguelen Petrel Kerguelen Petrel

Pterodroma brevirostris

Pictures: Teus Luijendijk

Also called Aphrodroma or Lugensa brevirostris.
A 'rollercoaster seabird': it is by far the most ultimate flight acrobat among the pelagic species we encountered. It regularly swoops up and down as a bouncing ball, every now and then taking a little break from this all, staying fairly high up in the air soaring for a few 10s of seconds. I have even occasionally seen it flying almost upside down when banking.



Kerguelen Petrel Pterodroma brevirostris ; videograbs (20x). Scotia Sea (between South Orkney and South Georgia), 23 March 2002.