Broad-billed Prion - Bret Whitney
Report

Contributor

Date

Location

Auto selected -53.20421, -42.13940 FIELD GUIDES TOUR - ANTARCTICA, SOUTH GEORGIA
South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands
Media from this location Illustrated Checklist
Map
Map Coordinates: -53.204212, -42.139401
Age and sex
Unknown age, Unknown sex - 1
Behaviors
Flying

Observation details

Although I have never knowingly seen a Broad-billed Prion, or a MacGillivray's Prion, I have seen many thousands of Antarctic Prions. Antarctic is certainly the only expected "heavy-billed" prion in waters between the Falklands and South Georgia -- but this bird strikes me as outside the range of variation of Antarctic, past the "large-billed" extreme, and the bill shape also looks a little more steeply "triangular", deeper at the base and not quite as "tapered" toward the tip as is typical of Antarctic. Additionally, there is no gular bulge (bill not full of food) affecting the apparent depth of the bill. Unfortunately, I managed only this one photo. I see that there is a 4 January 2024 record with a photo of Broad-billed Prion near the Falklands. I suppose the record-breaking global warmth of 2023 might have induced some largely unprecedented displacement of seabirds...

Technical information

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