Derivation
Pach-y-ptil'-a - Gk, pachys, thick; Gk, ptilon, feather: belcheri - Sir C.F. Belcher (1876 - 1970) born in Victoria, Australia, a judge in Nyasaland and West Indies, 1920 - 1937
Common in winter along southern coasts and south-eastern Queensland.
Habitat
Marine, pelagic, in sub-Antarctic and Antarctic waters south to the limit of the pack-ice, in the Antarctic Zone, in open waters, inshore when breeding or in shallow waters offshore.
Antarctica (NB), Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), French Southern Territories, New Zealand, Peru, South Africa (NB), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Uruguay (NB).
Breeds on Crozets and Kerguelen Islands in the southern Indian Ocean, Falkland Islands in the southern Atlantic Ocean and islands off southern South America. Possibly also on Macquarie Island. Uncommon winter visitor to southern coasts of Western Australia, through to New South Wales and north to south-east Queenslands, and also Tasmania.
Slender-billed Prion (Pachyptila belcheri) [XC863074]
by Kevin Guille from Mayes island, France (song, song at night during breeding season. individual singing from its nest.)
Slender-billed Prion (Pachyptila belcheri) [XC863032]
by Kevin Guille from Mayes island, France (aberrant, call, song)
Breeding Season (Guide)
Does not breed in Australia. Breeds on Crozets and Kerguelen Islands (October - early March).
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Nest
In a chamber at the end of a burrow, lined with dry grass and feathers, or coarse leaves and twigs, in peat, sand, under rocks, tussock-grass or sometimes under a dense bush. In colonies often in large numbers.
Eggs (Guide)
1; matt, chalky coating, white; oval; about 48 x 35 mm. Incubation: by both sexes. A single brood. No replacement laying.
Young
Semi-altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 49 - 50 days. Fed by incomplete regurgitation.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
BirdLife International Species Factsheet