Procellaria aequinoctialis
Silhouette: Alexandre Vong · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
The white-chinned petrel (Procellaria aequinoctialis) also known as the Cape hen and shoemaker, is a large petrel in the family Procellariidae. It ranges around the Southern Ocean as far north as southern Australia, Peru and Namibia, and breeds colonially on scattered islands. The white-chinned petrel was formerly considered to be conspecific with the spectacled petrel (Procellaria conspicillata).
In 1747 the English naturalist George Edwards included an illustration and a description of the white-chinned petrel in the second volume of his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. He used the English name "The great Black Peteril" and based his hand-coloured etching on a preserved specimen that had been brought to London. He believed that it had been collected near the Cape of Good Hope. When in 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the tenth edition, he placed the white-chinned petrel with the other petrels in the genus Procellaria. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Procellaria aequinoctialis and cited Edwards' work.
There are two subspecies: P. a. aequinoctialis - breeds on islets of the temperate and subantarctic... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | De Hoop Nature Reserve | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Fiordland National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 4 | Rakiura National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 5 | West Coast National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 6 | iSimangaliso Wetland Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 7 | Garden Route National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montevideo | 🇺🇾 Uruguay |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a White-chinned Petrel sighting in Table Mountain National Park on a given day, based on 363 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 94th most-seen of the 223 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March, May–July and September–October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a White-chinned Petrel in Table Mountain National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April, August and November–February, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most White-chinned Petrel sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 7 parks where we can rate White-chinned Petrel sightings, Table Mountain National Park has the highest daily chance: about 10%. Next come De Hoop Nature Reserve (South Africa, under 5%) and Fiordland National Park (New Zealand, under 5%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the White-chinned Petrel is recorded against all the birds logged in Table Mountain National Park (363 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.
