White-headed petrel
Pterodroma lessonii (Garnot, 1826)
The white-headed petrel (Pterodroma lessonii) is a species in the family Procellariidae, order Procellariiformes. Recorded adults weigh 590 g to 708 g. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
Quick facts about the white-headed petrel
- Weight
- 590 g – 708 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 1.09 msrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- marinesrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 60 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 5.5 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 0.791src 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 white-headed petrel?
Photos of the white-headed petrel
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the white-headed 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-headed petrel is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Why a country list is not a range map
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the white-headed petrel?
The white-headed petrel (Pterodroma lessonii), also known as the white-headed fulmar, is a species of seabird in the petrel family, Procellariidae. It is about 400 mm (16 in) in length.
White-headed petrels breed alone or in colonies in burrows dug among tussocks and herbfields on the subantarctic Antipodes and Auckland Islands.
From the Wikipedia article “White-headed petrel” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=White-headed_petrel&oldid=1379047475), 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-headed petrel endangered?
The white-headed petrel 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. What the categories mean.
How is the white-headed petrel classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderProcellariiformes
- familyProcellariidae
- genusPterodroma
- SpeciesPterodroma lessonii (Garnot, 1826)
Synonyms Procellaria lessonii, Procellaria vagabunda, Pterodroma lessoni lessoni, Pterodroma lessonii lessonii
Other names and names in other languages (36)
- WitkopstormvoëlAfrikaans
- نوء أبيض الرأسArabic
- بترل أبيض الرأسArabic
- petrell capblancCatalan
- buřňák bělohlavýCzech
- pedryn penwynWelsh
- Hvidhovedet PetrelDanish
- WeißkopfsturmvogelGerman
- Weißkopf-SturmvogelGerman
- blankakapa petreloEsperanto
- Petrel cabeciblancoSpanish
- Fardela de frente blancaSpanish
- Petrel cabeza blancaSpanish
- valgepea-tormilindEstonian
- valkopääviistäjäFinnish
- Pétrel de LessonFrench
- Diablotin de LessonFrench
- Pétrel à tête blancheFrench
- bjeloglavi zovojCroatian
- fehérfejű viharmadárHungarian
- Petrello testabiancaItalian
- メグロシロハラミズナギドリJapanese
- baltagalvis audrašauklisLithuanian
- witkopstormvogelDutch
- hvithodepetrellNorwegian
- petrel białogłowyPolish
- freira-de-cabeça-brancaPortuguese
- grazina-de-cabeça-brancaPortuguese
- Белоголовый тайфунникRussian
- tajfúnnik bielohlavýSlovak
- Beloglava burnicaSerbian
- vithuvad petrellSwedish
- Ak Başlı FırtınakuşuTurkish
- тайфунник білоголовийUkrainian
- 白头圆尾鹱Chinese
- 白頭圓尾鸌Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the white-headed petrel
Other species in the same genus Pterodroma.
Bermuda petrel
Pterodroma cahow
Great-winged petrel
Pterodroma macroptera
Soft-plumaged petrel
Pterodroma mollis
Black-winged petrel
Pterodroma nigripennis
Barau's petrel
Pterodroma baraui
Kermadec petrel
Pterodroma neglecta
CompareWhite-headed petrel vs Bermuda petrelWhite-headed petrel vs Great-winged petrelWhite-headed petrel vs Soft-plumaged petrelWhite-headed petrel vs Black-winged petrel
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the white-headed petrel?
An adult white-headed petrel weighs 590 g – 708 g and has a wingspan of 1.09 m, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the white-headed petrel live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the white-headed petrel for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the white-headed petrel endangered?
The white-headed petrel is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
What kind of animal is the white-headed petrel?
The white-headed petrel (Pterodroma lessonii) 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). White-headed petrel (Pterodroma lessonii). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-headed-petrel
“White-headed petrel (Pterodroma lessonii).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-headed-petrel.
@misc{white_headed_petrel_2026,
title = {White-headed petrel (Pterodroma lessonii)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-headed-petrel},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}