Wilson's storm petrel
Oceanites oceanicus (Kuhl, 1820)
The wilson's storm petrel (Oceanites oceanicus) is a species in the family Oceanitidae, order Procellariiformes. Recorded adults weigh 30.4 g to 36.2 g. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
Quick facts about the wilson's storm petrel
- Weight
- 30.4 g – 36.2 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 39.6 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- marinesrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 43 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 3 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- 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 wilson's storm petrel?
Photos of the wilson's storm petrel
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
Where does the wilson's 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 wilson's storm 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 wilson's storm petrel?
Wilson's storm petrel (Oceanites oceanicus), also known as Wilson's petrel, is a small seabird of the austral storm petrel family Oceanitidae. It is one of the most abundant bird species in the world and has a circumpolar distribution mainly in the seas of the southern hemisphere but extending northwards during the summer of the northern hemisphere. The world population was estimated in 2022 as stable at 8–20 million birds. In 2010 it had been estimated at 12–30 million. A 1998 book had estimated more than 50 million pairs. The name commemorates the Scottish-American ornithologist Alexander Wilson. The genus name Oceanites refers to the mythical Oceanids, the three thousand daughters of Tethys. The species name is from Latin oceanus, "ocean".
From the Wikipedia article “Wilson's storm petrel” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wilson%27s_storm_petrel&oldid=1379042782), 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 wilson's storm petrel endangered?
The wilson's storm 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 wilson's storm petrel classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderProcellariiformes
- familyOceanitidae
- genusOceanites
- SpeciesOceanites oceanicus (Kuhl, 1820)
Synonyms Procellaria oceanica, Procellaria wilsonii
Other names and names in other languages (83)
- Wilson's petrelEnglish
- Wilson's storm-petrelEnglish
- Wilson's storm-petrelEnglish
- Wilson's storm-petrelEnglish
- Wilsons storm-petrelEnglish
- Wilsons storm-petrelEnglish
- Gewone stormswaelAfrikaans
- GeelpootstormswaelAfrikaans
- Geelpootstormswael (Gewone stormswael)Afrikaans
- نوء ويلسونArabic
- نوء ويلسونيArabic
- طائر نوء ويلسونArabic
- Уилсънова вълнолюбкаBulgarian
- Satanig WilsonBreton
- ocell de tempesta de WilsonCatalan
- buřníček žlutonohýCzech
- buřňáček WilsonůvCzech
- pedryn WilsonWelsh
- pedryn drycin WilsonWelsh
- Pedrynnod WilsonWelsh
- Wilson´ StormsvaleDanish
- Wilsons stormsvaleDanish
- BuntfußsturmschwalbeGerman
- Buntfuß-SturmschwalbeGerman
- Buntpieda ŝtormpetreloEsperanto
- buntpieda ŝtormopetreloEsperanto
- Paiño de WilsonSpanish
- Golondrina de marSpanish
- Golondrina del MarSpanish
- Paíño comúnSpanish
- Paíño de WilsonSpanish
- Paíño PardoSpanish
- Pamperito de WilsonSpanish
- lõuna-tormipääsuEstonian
- Wilson ekaitz-txoriBasque
- مرغ طوفان ویلسونPersian
- etelänkeijuFinnish
- Océanite de WilsonFrench
- Guairdeall WilsonIrish
- Guairdeall crobh-bhuíIrish
- Luaireag mhòrScottish Gaelic
- Kirree varrey vooarManx
- יסעורון וילסוןHebrew
- יסעורון אוקייניHebrew
- šarenonoga burnicaCroatian
- Wilson-viharfecskeHungarian
- Petrel-badai coklatIndonesian
- HafsvalaIcelandic
- Uccello delle tempeste di WilsonItalian
- アシナガウミツバメJapanese
- okeaninis būriuotojasLithuanian
- margakojis Vilsono audrašauklisLithuanian
- Vilsona vētrasburātājsLatvian
- DomoindranomasinaMalagasy
- വിൽസൺ കാറ്റിളക്കിMalayalam
- wilsonstormsvaleNorwegian Bokmål
- Wilson stormvogeltjeDutch
- Wilsons stormvogeltjeDutch
- oseanstormsvaleNorwegian
- Para di Tormenta WilsonPapiamento
- Parha di Tormenta WilsonPapiamento
- oceannik żółtopłetwyPolish
- والسن دا پیٹرلWestern Panjabi
- casquilhoPortuguese
- alma-de-mestrePortuguese
- painho-casquilhoPortuguese
- Painho-de-wilsonPortuguese
- Tipolkarcf
- Качурка ВильсонаRussian
- Вильсонова океанидаRussian
- MearračeasanNorthern Sami
- búrkozvest pestronohýSlovak
- Rumenonogi strakošSlovenian
- antarktični strakošSlovenian
- Vilsonova burnicaSerbian
- havslöpareSwedish
- fırtına kuşuTurkish
- Sarı Ayaklı FırtınakırlangıcıTurkish
- Океанник ВільсонаUkrainian
- буревісник ВільсонаUkrainian
- Chim báo bão WilsonVietnamese
- 黃蹼洋海燕Chinese
- 黄蹼洋海燕Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the wilson's storm petrel
Other species in the same genus Oceanites.
Elliot's storm petrel
Oceanites gracilis
Pincoya storm petrel
Oceanites pincoyae
Andean storm petrel
Oceanites barrosi
CompareWilson's storm petrel vs Elliot's storm petrelWilson's storm petrel vs Pincoya storm petrelWilson's storm petrel vs Andean storm petrel
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the wilson's storm petrel?
An adult wilson's storm petrel weighs 30.4 g – 36.2 g and has a wingspan of 39.6 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the wilson's storm petrel live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the wilson's storm petrel for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the wilson's storm petrel endangered?
The wilson's storm 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 wilson's storm petrel?
The wilson's storm petrel (Oceanites oceanicus) 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.
- 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). Wilson's storm petrel (Oceanites oceanicus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/wilsons-storm-petrel
“Wilson's storm petrel (Oceanites oceanicus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/wilsons-storm-petrel.
@misc{wilsons_storm_petrel_2026,
title = {Wilson's storm petrel (Oceanites oceanicus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/wilsons-storm-petrel},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}