Petrel

Petrels are a monophyletic[1] group of marine seabirds, sharing a characteristic of a nostril arrangement that results in the name "tubenoses".

1670) pitteral; the English explorer William Dampier wrote the bird was so called from its way of flying with its feet just skimming the surface of the water, recalling Saint Peter's walk on the sea of Galilee (Matthew xiv.28); if so, it likely was formed in English as a diminutive of Peter (< Old French: Peterelle (?)

[citation needed] All the members of the order are exclusively pelagic in distribution—returning to land only to breed.

The family Procellariidae is the main radiation of medium-sized true petrels, characterised by united nostrils with medium septum, and a long outer functional primary feather.

Where the whale and the shark and the sword-fish sleep, - Outflying the blast and the driving rain, The petrel telleth her tale — in vain!