CreatureData

White-faced storm petrel

Pelagodroma marina (Latham, 1790)

LCLeast Concernbirds

The white-faced storm petrel (Pelagodroma marina) is a species in the family Oceanitidae, order Procellariiformes. Recorded adults weigh 40 g to 47.2 g and live up to 11 years. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

White-faced storm petrel (Pelagodroma marina)
Photo: Godman, Frederick du Cane, Monograph of the Petrels , 1907-1910 · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the white-faced storm petrel

Weight
40 g – 47.2 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Wingspan
38 cm – 45 cmsrc for Wingspan
Lifespan
11 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan
21 years
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
marinesrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
55.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
1src for Young per litter or clutch
Litters or clutches a year
1src for Litters or clutches a year
Lifestyle
Aerialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Migratorysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

How big is the white-faced storm petrel?

WHITE-FACED STORM PETREL · WINGSPAN 45 CMADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 45 cm, the recorded maximum wingspan of the white-faced storm petrel is about 26% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Photos of the white-faced storm petrel

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

Where does the white-faced storm 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 white-faced storm petrel is listed for 1 country.

Australia
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Australia

Why a country list is not a range map

Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.

What is the white-faced storm petrel?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The white-faced storm petrel (Pelagodroma marina), (Māori: takahikare) also known as white-faced petrel or frigate petrel, is a small seabird of the austral storm petrel family Oceanitidae. It is the only member of the monotypic genus Pelagodroma. It is widely distributed across the northern and southern hemisphere, especially around the coastal and open ocean waters of southern Australia, New Zealand, Tristan da Cunha, Cabo Verde, the Canary islands and the Selvagens islands.

From the Wikipedia article “White-faced storm petrel” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=White-faced_storm_petrel&oldid=1369805040), 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 white-faced storm petrel endangered?

The white-faced storm petrel is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

How is the white-faced storm petrel classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderProcellariiformes
  5. familyOceanitidae
  6. genusPelagodroma
  7. SpeciesPelagodroma marina (Latham, 1790)

Synonyms Procellaria aequorea, Procellaria marina

Other names and names in other languages (66)
  • Frigate petrelEnglish
  • White-faced petrelEnglish
  • White-faced storm-petrelEnglish
  • White-faced storm-petrelEnglish
  • White-faced storm-petrelEnglish
  • White-faced storm-petrelEnglish
  • WitwangstormswaelAfrikaans
  • نوء أبيض الوجهArabic
  • Морска вълнолюбкаBulgarian
  • Satanig penn gwennBreton
  • Petrell carablancCatalan
  • ocell de tempesta carablancCatalan
  • buřníček běločelýCzech
  • buřňáček běločelýCzech
  • pedryn drycin wynebwynWelsh
  • FregatstormsvaleDanish
  • FregattensturmschwalbeGerman
  • Weißgesicht-SturmschwalbeGerman
  • WeißgesichtsturmschwalbeGerman
  • blankmaska ŝtormopetreloEsperanto
  • Paíño pechialboSpanish
  • Golondrina de mar de ceja blancaSpanish
  • Paíño cara blancaSpanish
  • Paiño PechialboSpanish
  • valgekulm-tormipääsuEstonian
  • Ekaitz-txori musuzuriBasque
  • ulappakeijuFinnish
  • Océanite frégateFrench
  • Guairdeall aghaidhbhánIrish
  • Kirree varrey vane-eddinaghScottish Gaelic
  • Paíño calcamarGalician
  • יסעורון לבן-פניםHebrew
  • bjelolica burnicaCroatian
  • fehérarcú viharfecskeHungarian
  • Petrel-badai muka-putihIndonesian
  • NjarðarsvalaIcelandic
  • uccello delle tempeste fregataItalian
  • uccello delle tempeste facciabiancaItalian
  • カオジロウミツバメJapanese
  • baltaskruostis audrašauklisLithuanian
  • baltsejas vētrasburātājsLatvian
  • FotsitavaMalagasy
  • TakahikareMāori
  • Takahikare moanaMāori
  • വെണ്മുഖി കാറ്റിളക്കിMalayalam
  • FregatstormvogelDutch
  • bont stormvogeltjeDutch
  • fregattstormsvaleNorwegian
  • oceannik białobrewyPolish
  • calca-marPortuguese
  • calcamarPortuguese
  • белолицая качуркаRussian
  • Белолицая океанидаRussian
  • FregáhttastoarbmaspálfuNorthern Sami
  • búrkozvest morskýSlovak
  • progastoglavi strakošSlovenian
  • progastorjavi strakošSlovenian
  • Belolika burnicaSerbian
  • fregatthavslöpareSwedish
  • fregattstormsvalaSwedish
  • fırtına kuşuTurkish
  • Ak Yüzlü FırtınakırlangıcıTurkish
  • beyaz yüzlü fırtına kuşuTurkish
  • океанник білобровийUkrainian
  • 白脸海燕Chinese
  • 白臉海燕Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the white-faced storm petrel

Other species in the same family Oceanitidae.

CompareWhite-faced storm petrel vs Wilson's storm petrelWhite-faced storm petrel vs Black-bellied storm petrelWhite-faced storm petrel vs Grey-backed storm petrelWhite-faced storm petrel vs White-bellied storm petrel

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the white-faced storm petrel?

An adult white-faced storm petrel weighs 40 g – 47.2 g and has a wingspan of 38 cm – 45 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the white-faced storm petrel live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the white-faced storm petrel for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the white-faced storm petrel endangered?

The white-faced storm petrel is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

How long does the white-faced storm petrel live?

The white-faced storm petrel has a recorded lifespan of 11 years.

What kind of animal is the white-faced storm petrel?

The white-faced storm petrel (Pelagodroma marina) belongs to the family Oceanitidae in the order Procellariiformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). White-faced storm petrel (Pelagodroma marina). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-faced-storm-petrel

MLA

“White-faced storm petrel (Pelagodroma marina).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-faced-storm-petrel.

BibTeX
@misc{white_faced_storm_petrel_2026,
  title = {White-faced storm petrel (Pelagodroma marina)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-faced-storm-petrel},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}