Fairy prion
Pachyptila turtur (Kuhl, 1820)
The fairy prion (Pachyptila turtur) is a species in the family Procellariidae, order Procellariiformes. Recorded adults weigh 136.8 g to 141.4 g and live up to 10 years. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
Quick facts about the fairy prion
- Weight
- 136.8 g – 141.4 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 56 cm – 60 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 10 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- marinesrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 55 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 4 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Generalistsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Partialsrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
How big is the fairy prion?
Where does the fairy prion live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The fairy prion is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the fairy prion?
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.
From the Wikipedia article “Fairy prion” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fairy_prion&oldid=1358775668), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the fairy prion endangered?
The fairy prion is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the fairy prion classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderProcellariiformes
- familyProcellariidae
- genusPachyptila
- SpeciesPachyptila turtur (Kuhl, 1820)
Synonyms Pachyptila ariel, Pachyptila turtur brevirostris, Pachyptila turtur eatoni, Pachyptila turtur fallai, Prion ariel, Prion brevirostris, Procellaria turtur, Pseudoprion turtur armiger, Pseudoprion turtur benchi, Pseudoprion turtur dertrum, Pseudoprion turtur eatoni, Pseudoprion turtur mangarei, Pseudoprion turtur steadi
Other names and names in other languages (37)
- Fulmar prionEnglish
- Fulmar-prionEnglish
- Titi WainuiEnglish
- SwartstertwalvisvoëlAfrikaans
- بريون الجنيةArabic
- petrell prió bec-curtCatalan
- buřňák hrdliččíCzech
- prion cainWelsh
- AlfehvalfuglDanish
- FeenwalvogelGerman
- FeensturmvogelGerman
- turta petreletoEsperanto
- Prión piquicortoSpanish
- Petrel-paloma chicoSpanish
- Prión pico cortoSpanish
- haldjas-vaalalindEstonian
- pikkuprioniFinnish
- Prion colombeFrench
- sinji zovojCroatian
- gerlecsőrű cethojszaHungarian
- Prione fatatoItalian
- ヒメクジラドリJapanese
- snieginis prionasLithuanian
- Tītī wainuiMāori
- duifprionDutch
- alvehvalfuglNorwegian
- petrelek krótkodziobyPolish
- faigão-de-bico-curtoPortuguese
- Голубиный прионRussian
- Снеговая китовая птичкаRussian
- hladinár čarovnýSlovak
- Vilinski prionSerbian
- ljushuvad valfågelSwedish
- Güvercin PriyonuTurkish
- пріон сніжнийUkrainian
- 仙鋸鸌Chinese
- 仙锯鹱Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the fairy prion
Other species in the same genus Pachyptila.
Antarctic prion
Pachyptila desolata
Broad-billed prion
Pachyptila vittata
Slender-billed prion
Pachyptila belcheri
Fulmar prion
Pachyptila crassirostris
Salvin's prion
Pachyptila salvini
MacGillivray's prion
Pachyptila macgillivrayi
CompareFairy prion vs Antarctic prionFairy prion vs Broad-billed prionFairy prion vs Slender-billed prionFairy prion vs Fulmar prion
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the fairy prion?
An adult fairy prion weighs 136.8 g – 141.4 g and has a wingspan of 56 cm – 60 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the fairy prion live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the fairy prion for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the fairy prion endangered?
The fairy prion is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
How long does the fairy prion live?
The fairy prion has a recorded lifespan of 10 years.
What kind of animal is the fairy prion?
The fairy prion (Pachyptila turtur) belongs to the family Procellariidae in the order Procellariiformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Fairy prion (Pachyptila turtur). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/fairy-prion
“Fairy prion (Pachyptila turtur).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/fairy-prion.
@misc{fairy_prion_2026,
title = {Fairy prion (Pachyptila turtur)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/fairy-prion},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}