Grey petrel
Procellaria cinerea J. F. Gmelin, 1789
The grey petrel (Procellaria cinerea) is a species in the family Procellariidae, order Procellariiformes. Recorded adults weigh about 1.13 kg. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Near Threatened.
Quick facts about the grey petrel
- Weight
- 1.13 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 1.15 m – 1.3 msrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- marinesrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 7 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 0.904src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Generalistsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Partialsrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Near Threatened (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
How big is the grey petrel?
Where does the grey petrel 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 grey petrel 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 grey petrel?
The grey petrel (Procellaria cinerea), also called the gray petrel, brown petrel, pediunker or grey shearwater, is a species of seabird in the Procellariidae, or petrel family. It is pelagic and occurs in the open seas of the Southern Hemisphere, mainly between 32°S and 58°S.
From the Wikipedia article “Grey petrel” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grey_petrel&oldid=1379047441), 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 grey petrel endangered?
The grey petrel is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List: it is close to qualifying as threatened.
- 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 Near Threatened species.
How is the grey petrel classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderProcellariiformes
- familyProcellariidae
- genusProcellaria
- SpeciesProcellaria cinerea J. F. Gmelin, 1789
Synonyms Adamaster cinerea, Adamastor cinereus, Priofinus cinereus, Priofinus cinereus dydimus, Procellaria cineria, Procellaria pallipes, Puffinus aequinoctialis, Puffinus cinereus
Other names and names in other languages (49)
- Brown petrelEnglish
- Gray petrelEnglish
- Gray petrelEnglish
- Great grey shearwaterEnglish
- Grey shearwaterEnglish
- Grey shearwaterEnglish
- PediunkerEnglish
- PediunkerEnglish
- GryspylstormvoëlAfrikaans
- Pediunker (Gryspylstormvoël)Afrikaans
- نوء رماديArabic
- بترل رماديArabic
- Сив буревестникBulgarian
- baldriga de GmelinCatalan
- buřňák zavalitýCzech
- pedryn llwydWelsh
- Grå SkråpeDanish
- GrausturmvogelGerman
- Grauer SturmvogelGerman
- griza petreloEsperanto
- Pardela grisSpanish
- Fardela grisSpanish
- Petrel cenicientoSpanish
- hall-tormilindEstonian
- مرغ باران خاکستریPersian
- meriliitäjäFinnish
- Pétrel grisFrench
- Puffin grisFrench
- sivosmeđi zovojCroatian
- szürke viharmadárHungarian
- Petrel abu-abuIndonesian
- Petrello grigioItalian
- オオハイイロミズナギドリJapanese
- pilkasis audrašauklisLithuanian
- KuiaMāori
- bruine stormvogelDutch
- burzyk buryPolish
- pardela-cinzaPortuguese
- pardela-cinzentaPortuguese
- Бурый буревестникRussian
- Южный серый буревестникRussian
- víchrovec popolavýSlovak
- víchrovník popolavýSlovak
- Siva burnicaSerbian
- gråpetrellSwedish
- Kahverengi YelkovanTurkish
- буревісник сірийUkrainian
- 灰風鸌Chinese
- 灰风鹱Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the grey petrel
Other species in the same genus Procellaria.
White-chinned petrel
Procellaria aequinoctialis
Black petrel
Procellaria parkinsoni
Westland petrel
Procellaria westlandica
Spectacled petrel
Procellaria conspicillata
CompareGrey petrel vs White-chinned petrelGrey petrel vs Black petrelGrey petrel vs Westland petrelGrey petrel vs Spectacled petrel
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the grey petrel?
An adult grey petrel weighs 1.13 kg and has a wingspan of 1.15 m – 1.3 m, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the grey petrel live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the grey petrel for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the grey petrel endangered?
The grey petrel is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is close to qualifying as threatened.
What kind of animal is the grey petrel?
The grey petrel (Procellaria cinerea) 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).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Grey petrel (Procellaria cinerea). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/grey-petrel
“Grey petrel (Procellaria cinerea).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/grey-petrel.
@misc{grey_petrel_2026,
title = {Grey petrel (Procellaria cinerea)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/grey-petrel},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}