Tim writes: white-chinned Petrel (Procellaria aequinoctialis) is a large petrel with a wingspan on nearly 1.5m. Within the petrel family, only the two Giant Petrels are larger. I have always thought that it was inappropriately named as its white chin is such a trivial feature. Its plumage is the colour of dark chocolate apart from the tiniest white patch of feathers on the chin, which is so insignificant I swear I have never seen it in the field. The bill is very pale ivory too, which makes the adjacent chin patch even more difficult to differentiate. If you zoom right in you can just about see the triangular white chin patch at the base of the bill. They breed on sub-Antarctic islands throughout the Southern Ocean and wander north to the subtropics after breeding. Apparently birds from the Indian Ocean sector have larger chins than those from the Atlantic sector, which is where I photographed this individual. They are still a common bird in the Southern Ocean but the breeding population is declining, mainly due to fishing bycatch and historically from introduced rats on some breeding islands. They are classed as vulnerable by IUCN.
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