shearwater

a kind of bird – sea (salt water) bird – sea-gull bird-like, related to the ‘petrels’ – medium-sized with dark brown or black upper side and pale grey under side (in some species white neck or white head, neck and breast), round head with a long or short hooked beak (bill) with tube-shaped nostrils (= nose holes) on the top of the beak, long wings, medium-sized tail, medium-sized legs with webbed feet (= feet with a thin layer of skin joining the toes, like that of a duck); size: (varies widely) from 7 to 25 inches (from ½ a foot to 2 feet) long, and from 350 to 600 grams heavy (the ‘Audubon’s shearwater being the smallest, and the ‘Cory’s shearwater’ being the largest); feeds on (eats) mostly fish, squid, and other small sea animals; lives for about15-20 years (there are species, like the Manx shearwater, live to 56 years); about 20 species, found in most parts of the world

Some common shearwaters are: Cory’s shearwater, streaked shearwater, Christmas shearwater, Manx shearwater, little shearwater, tropical shearwater, pink-footed shearwater, sooty shearwater, short-tailed shearwater

Special Features:

a shearwater, shearing the waters

The shearwater is a completely sea-living bird – spends most of its time at sea; and goes to land only to breed – lay eggs and raise chicks.

The shearwater gets its name from the way it flies, skimming close to the tides ‘shearing’ (= tipping to right and left as if removing water from its back) while flying!

The shearwater lives in burrows while on land. Several birds live together in colonies, along with other birds and animals! There are some species that nest under some bushes or on plain land taking the cover of the plants.

a shearwater chick

The ‘short-tailed shearwater’ is called the “mutton bird” in Australia; the ‘sooty shearwater’ is called the “mutton bird” and “Tasmanian squab” in New Zealand because the fledglings grow excessively fat, three times heavier than their parents, storing some kind of oily substance in their bodies!! And some species of these birds are hunted (harvested) for their meat and oil driving them to near extinction!

Most species of shearwater are migratory. Manx shearwater migrates from Britain to South America each year covering a distance of about 10,000 Km (6000-7000 miles), and some 8 million Km. in its lifetime, and this species is the longest lived of all shearwater species (about 56 years)!!