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  1. Species
  2. ›
  3. Procellariidae
  4. ›
  5. Bulweria
  6. ›
  7. Bulwer's Petrel
Bulwer's Petrel
Photo · Édouard Traviès (1809-1876)

BirdUp · Species

Bulwer's Petrel

Bulweria bulwerii(Jardine & Selby, 1828)

Updated 21 March 2026

Origin: Native
Order
PROCELLARIIFORMES
Family
Procellariidae
Genus
Bulweria

At a glance

The Bulwer's Petrel is a medium-sized bird, about 26–28 cm long, native to Australia.

Size
26–28 cm
Origin
Native
  • Identification
  • Where
  • Behaviour

01 · Identification

How to tell it apart

What does a Bulwer's Petrel look like?

The Bulwer's Petrel is a medium-sized bird, about 26–28 cm long and weighing 75–131 g.

Bulwer's petrel is a small petrel in the family Procellariidae that is found in tropical and subtropical regions of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is named after the English naturalist James Bulwer.

Description · wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Field specs

Length
26–28 cm
Weight
75–131 g

Measurements · avonet · CC BY 4.0

05 · Behaviour

Habits and haunts

What does a Bulwer's Petrel eat?

The Bulwer's Petrel feeds on fish/invertebrates, usually foraging in pairs or alone.

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02 · Where

Where to find it

Where does the Bulwer's Petrel live in Australia?

The Bulwer's Petrel is native to Australia, with a core range spanning trO.

Breeding range
TrO : Ilheu da Vila (Azores), Porto Santo and Desertas (Madeira group), Salvage (north of Canary Is.), Canary Is., Raso and Ilheu de Cima (north and south Cape Verde is.; Macaronesia, off west Africa), Round I. (north-east of Mauritius, central Mascarenes, south-west Indian Ocean), islands off south China coast, Ogasawara Is. (=Bonin, south of Japan), Northwestern and main Hawaiian is. and Johnson Atoll (south-west of Hawaii), Kiribati and Marquesas Is. (east Polynesia)
Non-breeding range
To west and south in Atlantic, reaching west Africa; widely in tropical Indian Ocean south to Mascarenes and through Indonesian Arch. to New Guinea and north Australia, to south and east-central tropical Pacific