White-necked petrel
Pterodroma cervicalis (Salvin, 1891)
The white-necked petrel (Pterodroma cervicalis) is a species in the family Procellariidae, order Procellariiformes. Recorded adults weigh 437.5 g to 445 g. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Vulnerable.
Quick facts about the white-necked petrel
- Weight
- 445 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- 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
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Generalistsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Partialsrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Vulnerable (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
Photos of the white-necked petrel
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the white-necked 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-necked 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-necked petrel?
The white-necked petrel (Pterodroma cervicalis), also known as the white-naped petrel, is a species of seabird in the family Procellariidae. During the non-breeding season it occurs throughout a large part of the Pacific, but it is only known to breed on Macauley Island in New Zealand's Kermadec Islands and the Australian territory of Norfolk Island and Phillip Island. It formerly bred on Raoul Island, but has now been extirpated from this locality due to predation by rats and cats. Reports of breeding on Merelava, Vanuatu, are more likely to be the very similar Vanuatu petrel, P. occulta, which some consider to be a subspecies of the white-necked petrel. The IUCN rating as vulnerable is for the "combined" species.
From the Wikipedia article “White-necked petrel” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=White-necked_petrel&oldid=1369488316), 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-necked petrel endangered?
The white-necked petrel is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List: it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.
- 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 Vulnerable species. What the categories mean.
How is the white-necked petrel classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderProcellariiformes
- familyProcellariidae
- genusPterodroma
- SpeciesPterodroma cervicalis (Salvin, 1891)
Synonyms Oestrelata cervicalis, Pterodroma cervicalis cervicalis, Pterodroma externa cervicalis
Other names and names in other languages (45)
- White-naped petrelEnglish
- White-naped petrelEnglish
- نوء ذو العنق الأبيضArabic
- petrell collblancCatalan
- buřňák bělokrkýCzech
- buřňák kermadeckýCzech
- pedryn gyddfwyn KermadecWelsh
- Hvidnakket PetrelDanish
- Weißnacken-SturmvogelGerman
- WeißnackensturmvogelGerman
- blankakola petreloEsperanto
- Petrel cuelliblancoSpanish
- Fardela de cuello blancoSpanish
- Petrel cuello blancoSpanish
- valgekael-tormilindEstonian
- کبوتر دریایی گردنسفیدPersian
- kermadecinviistäjäFinnish
- kermadecsaartenviistäjäFinnish
- Pétrel à col blancFrench
- Diablotin à col blancFrench
- kermadečki zovojCroatian
- Bjelovrata burnicaCroatian
- Petrello collobiancoItalian
- クビワオオシロハラミズナギドリJapanese
- baltakaklis audrašauklisLithuanian
- baltkakla vētrasputnsLatvian
- KermadecwitnekstormvogelDutch
- Kermadec-witnekstormvogelDutch
- macauleypetrellNorwegian
- petrel białoszyiPolish
- freira-de-pescoço-brancoPortuguese
- grazina-de-pescoço-brancoPortuguese
- Белошейный тайфунникRussian
- Кермадекский тайфунникRussian
- Ошейниковый тайфунникRussian
- tajfúnnik bielokrkýSlovak
- Belovrata burnicaSerbian
- vithalsad petrellSwedish
- นกจมูกหลอดคอขาวThai
- Lafu kiuteaTongan
- Ak Yakalı FırtınakuşuTurkish
- тайфунник макаулійськийUkrainian
- 白翎海燕Chinese
- 白頸圓尾鸌Chinese
- 白领圆尾鹱Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the white-necked 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-necked petrel vs Bermuda petrelWhite-necked petrel vs Great-winged petrelWhite-necked petrel vs Soft-plumaged petrelWhite-necked petrel vs Black-winged petrel
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the white-necked petrel?
An adult white-necked petrel weighs 445 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the white-necked petrel live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the white-necked petrel for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the white-necked petrel endangered?
The white-necked petrel is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, meaning it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.
What kind of animal is the white-necked petrel?
The white-necked petrel (Pterodroma cervicalis) 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-necked petrel (Pterodroma cervicalis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-necked-petrel
“White-necked petrel (Pterodroma cervicalis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-necked-petrel.
@misc{white_necked_petrel_2026,
title = {White-necked petrel (Pterodroma cervicalis)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/white-necked-petrel},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}