stormy petrel:
- any of various small sea birds of the family Hydrobatidae, having dark plumage with paler underparts; also called storm petrel.
- one who brings discord or strife, or appears at the onset of trouble.
Example: Of the unpredictable and constantly angry Paracelsus, for example, the stormy petrel who convulsed the staid medical establishment of the sixteenth century by demanding radical reforms in clinical thinking, he wrote: "This first great revolt against the slavish authority of the schools had little immediate effect, largely on account of the personal vagaries of the reformer--but it made men think." [Reference: Sherwin B. Nuland, "The Saint", New Republic , December 13, 1999]
