Bird Album
Fairy Prion
Pachyptila turtur (Kuhl, 1820)
137 gWeight
The fairy prion (Pachyptila turtur) is a small seabird with the standard prion plumage of blue-grey upperparts with a prominent dark "M" marking and white underneath.
Busiest months: November · Most records: New Zealand, Australia, South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands
Where and when it's recorded
Fairy Prion has been recorded at 52 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 6 countries and regions.
Records by month Southern Hemisphere
Where it's recorded most
- Eaglehawk Neck Pelagic TripAustralia1,773 records
- Kaikoura – offshore – Albatross Encounter pelagicNew Zealand912 records
- Cook Strait FerryNew Zealand734 records
More places
- Poor Knights Shelf AreaNew Zealand543 records
- Tutukaka To Poor KnightsNew Zealand513 records
- Foveaux StraitNew Zealand229 records
- Hauraki Gulf PelagicNew Zealand225 records
- Stewart Island – east coast pelagic watersNew Zealand133 records
- Stewart Island – Titi Islands PelagicNew Zealand74 records
- Queen Charlotte SoundNew Zealand24 records
Countries and regions with the most records
eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.
About
The fairy prion (Pachyptila turtur) is a small seabird with the standard prion plumage of blue-grey upperparts with a prominent dark "M" marking and white underneath. The sexes are alike. It is a small prion which frequents the low subantarctic and subtropic seas.
Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia
Questions
How big is the Fairy Prion?
The Fairy Prion weighs around 137 g.
Where does the Fairy Prion live?
Its breeding range: Southern Ocean: islets of southern subtropical to subantarctic oceans from Falkland Islands to outlying New Zealand islands. It is most often recorded in New Zealand, Australia and South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands.
When is the best time to see the Fairy Prion?
At the hotspots we track, it is recorded most in November (Southern Hemisphere).
Is the Fairy Prion endangered?
The IUCN Red List classifies the Fairy Prion as Least Concern.
What does the Fairy Prion eat?
Main food: Fish, shrimp & shellfish.
What family is the Fairy Prion in?
It belongs to the family Petrels, Shearwaters, Diving Petrels (Procellariidae), order Procellariiformes.
At a glance
- Weight
- 137 g
- Habitat
- Ocean
- Diet
- Fish, shrimp & shellfish
- Lifestyle
- Varied
- Migration
- Partial migrant
- Conservation
- Least Concern
More measurements
- Wing
- 174 mm
- Tail
- 81 mm
- Bill
- 26 mm
- Tarsus
- 30 mm
Averages from the AVONET dataset; length from field guides where available.
Range
Southern Ocean: islets of southern subtropical to subantarctic oceans from Falkland Islands to outlying New Zealand islands
Breeding range, IOC World Bird List 15.2
Classification
- Order
- Procellariiformes
- Family
- Petrels, Shearwaters, Diving Petrels Procellariidae
- Genus
- Pachyptila
Other birds in the genus Pachyptila
Broad-billed PrionPachyptila vittata
Salvin's PrionPachyptila salvini
MacGillivray's PrionPachyptila macgillivrayi
Antarctic PrionPachyptila desolata
Slender-billed PrionPachyptila belcheri
Fulmar PrionPachyptila crassirostris
Southern Giant PetrelMacronectes giganteus
Northern Giant PetrelMacronectes halli
Northern FulmarFulmarus glacialis
Southern FulmarFulmarus glacialoides
Download illustration
Free to use with credit: “Illustration: Bird Album (birdalbum.com)”. Drawn by AI from a reference photo by Oscar Thomas. ↗
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