Petrels & Shearwaters in South Africa
Our list for South Africa has 4 petrels & shearwaters recorded regularly there: 2 residents, 1 winter visitor and 1 passage migrant
Most likely in October
GBIF · OctShare of all bird records in South Africa in October, 2019–2024. Each month links to that month’s page.
All 4, most common first
White-chinned PetrelProcellaria aequinoctialisResidentUncommon50–58 cmRecorded all year
Sooty ShearwaterArdenna griseaWinter visitorUncommon40–51 cmRecorded all year
Great ShearwaterArdenna gravisResidentRare43–51 cmRecorded all year
Manx ShearwaterPuffinus puffinusPassage migrantRare30–38 cmRegularly Oct–Jul
Smallest to largest
Length, cm- Manx Shearwater 30–38 cm
- Sooty Shearwater 40–51 cm
- Great Shearwater 43–51 cm
- White-chinned Petrel 50–58 cm
Body length, bill to tail. Rare birds in grey.
Data: EOD – eBird Observation Dataset (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), accessed via GBIF.org, CC BY 4.0. Records from 2019–2024, aggregated and filtered by Birdfact. How these lists are made