Thank you for your patience. Some relatively young northern giant petrels can appear to be paler on the head, suggesting southern giant, thus this species is harder to confirm. Adults of the two species can be distinguished by the color of their bill-tip: greenish in the southern and reddish in the northern. The two species are difficult to tell from each other, possessing similar long, pale, orange bills and uniform, mottled grey plumage (except for around 15% of southern petrels, which are almost completely white). Also, petrel is derived from St. Peter and the story of his walking on water, as they appear to run on the water when they take off. Southern giant petrels are carnivores (piscivores) and scavengers. This page was last edited on 7 November 2020, at 12:25. [9] Additionally, adults of M. halli typically appear pale-eyed, while adults of M. giganteus of the normal morph typically appear dark-eyed (occasionally flecked paler). Giant petrels are extremely aggressive predators and scavengers, inspiring another common name, the stinker. The egg is incubated for about 60 days; once hatched the chick is brooded for three weeks. Outside of the breeding season they feed primarily on fish, squid, octopus, krill, shrimp, and more. Southern giant petrels range from Antarctica to the subtropics of Chile, Africa, and Australia. Giant petrels form a genus, Macronectes, from the family Procellariidae, which consists of two species. The petrels have a hooked bill called the maxillary unguis which can hold slippery prey. These birds resemble seagulls and they have the ability to spit a foul-smelling concoction at predators. As juveniles, the dark morph starts off more sooty brown and pales as it ages. Giant petrels' wings are shorter than mollymawks' and albatross', relative to body length. But they're also coined 'the vultures of Antarctica' thanks to their clean-up characteristic of feeding on carrion. The southern giant petrel is a large seabird that lives in sub-polar and temperate latitudes of the southern hemisphere. The food and feeding ecology of the giant petrels Macronectes halli and M. giganteus at South Georgia. Procellariiform - Procellariiform - Feeding habits: Shearwaters, storm petrels, and diving petrels feed by taking small fish and crustaceans close to the surface; they make short dives as necessary. Carrion occurred in the diets of 90.8% of birds sampled, while cephalopods occurred in the diets of 65.1%. As you can imagine, these giant birds also weigh quite a bit with the males coming in at 5 kg (11 lbs) while their female counterparts can weigh up to an amazing 8 kg (18 lbs). Many of the larger procellariids consume substantial amounts of squid. Between 2,000 and 4,000 birds were killed in 1997-1998 due to illegal longline fishing. Giant Petrels are prime examples of opportunistic feeders eating almost anything they can get their bills into. Giant petrels are the chief scavenging seabirds in the Southern Ocean. Juveniles are darker and less mottled with yellowish bills. [12] At sea, they feed on krill, squid, and fish. They are extremely aggressive and will kill other seabirds (usually penguin chicks, sick or injured adult penguins and the chicks of other seabirds), even those as large as an albatross, which they kill either by battering them to death or drowning. They breed on numerous islands throughout the southern oceans. Northern giant petrel scavenge and prey on seal pups and placentae, penguins and albatross. They can be separated from the albatrosses by their bill; the two tube nostrils are joined together on the top of the bill, unlike on albatross, where they are separated and on the side of the bill.