Fulmarus glacialoides
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The southern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialoides) is a seabird of the Southern Hemisphere. Along with the northern fulmar, F. glacialis, it belongs to the fulmar genus Fulmarus in the family Procellariidae, the true petrels. It is also known as the Antarctic fulmar or silver-grey fulmar.
It is largely pale grey above and white below with a distinctive white patch on the wing. It breeds on the coast of Antarctica and on surrounding islands, moving north in winter. It nests in colonies on cliffs, laying a single egg on a ledge or crevice. Its diet includes krill, fish and squid picked from the water's surface.
The southern fulmar formally described and illustrated in 1840 by the Scottish zoologist Andrew Smith in his major work Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa. He placed it with all the other petrels in the genus Procellaria and coined the binomial name Procellaria glacialoides. The southern fulmar is now placed with the northern fulmar in the genus Fulmarus that was introduced in 1826 by the English naturalist James Stephens. The genus name comes from the Old Norse Fúlmár meaning "foul-mew" or "foul-gull" because of the birds' habit of ejecting a foul-smelling oil...
Song0:19
Argentina · 2008
© Santiago Imberti · XC20681 · CC BY-NC-ND 2.5
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Antarctic Peninsula & South Shetland Islands | 🇦🇶 Antarctica | |
| 2 | Falkland Islands | 🇫🇰 Falkland Islands | |
| 3 | Tierra del Fuego National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 4 | South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands | 🇬🇸 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands | |
| 5 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Fulmar sighting in South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands on a given day, based on 30 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 32nd most-seen of the 37 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April–May and December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Fulmar in South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands on a given day, against under 5% in January–March, June and September–November, the lowest months. July and August have too few records to rate.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Southern Fulmar sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Southern Fulmar sightings, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands ranks 4th at under 5%. The best odds are in Antarctic Peninsula & South Shetland Islands (Antarctica, about 70%), Falkland Islands (Falkland Islands, about 10%) and Tierra del Fuego National Park (Argentina, under 5%).
Same family: Procellariidae
The closest relatives of the Southern Fulmar that you can see in South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (family Procellariidae, Shearwaters and Petrels) are Southern Giant Petrel (about 80%), Northern Giant Petrel (about 80%) and White-chinned Petrel (about 60%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Southern Fulmar is recorded against all the birds logged in South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (30 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
