The Norwegian whalers in South Georgia called the black petrel “the shoemaker”, because it reminds them of their home shoemakers in Norway, sitting in their huts and singing.
A Black Petrel, Photo courtesy of BirdLife International / Phil Hansbro
Cheers,
Ann Novek
Sweden
Ann Novek says
Photo courtesy of the above image : BirdLife International / Phil Hansbro
It seems as well that the sooty terns are called whale birds. The birds often follow the big whales , and they use to follow as well the whaling ships.
Jennifer says
Ann,
nice pic! i like the colour of the water against the bird.
I’ve added the photo courtesy to the main post and taken out the information about the other bird – because siting under the beautiful pic of the shoe maker it was confusing and detracted from the post. perhaps we can post the information about the other bird species as a new thread with a picture of it?
Ann Novek says
Hi Jennifer,
I fully agree with you. The post became a little bit confusing.
I’ll try to make up a new post about ” the real whale-birds”.
Thanks!
Libby says
Hi Ann,
There are Southern Hemisphere “whale-birds” too.
Libby says
What do you call a black petrel with slicks on?
Michael Shoemaker.
Ann Novek says
LOL! LOL! Very good Libby!