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Tuatara: Volume 21, Issues 1 and 2 (New Zealand Albatrosses and Petrels: an Identification Guide)

43. Antarctic Prion — (Pachyptila desolata) — Plate 17

43. Antarctic Prion
(Pachyptila desolata)
Plate 17

Field Characters: 57/28. A smaller and paler bird than the Broad-billed Prion (42). Lacks the massive bill and has a whiter face. Small eyebrow and lores mostly white; eye patch below eye dark blue or black. Sides of neck blue-grey, forming a tapering, incomplete collar.

Bill and feet blue, webs cream-coloured.

Differs from the subtropical Fairy Prion (44) by its paler plumage and less conspicuous wing and tail markings. Not distinguishable from Lesser Broad-billed Prion (46) at sea.

Flight as preceding species. Flocks south of New Zealand in subantarctic and antarctic water zones are common. Rarer further north. Does not follow ships.

Breeding locally in summer at Auckland, Macquarie and Scott Islands. Elsewhere breeding on high latitude islands in both the Indian and Atlantic Oceans.