Species: Puffinus tenuirostris

Short-tailed Shearwater

Species

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Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

Articles:

Looking back on a year of Puget Sound surprises: rare birds, gray whales, water

The year 2025 has been fairly mystifying to experts who make their living studying natural systems in the Puget Sound region.

Unusual observations this year include record-low dissolved oxygen levels, unexpected gray whale visitations, and the sudden arrival of an astounding number of short-tailed shearwaters — a seabird almost never seen in Puget Sound.

Flock of short-tailed shearwaters flying low over calm ocean water under overcast sky.

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Craniata

Class

Aves

Order

Procellariiformes

Family

Procellariidae

Genus

Puffinus

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.102589

Classification

Other Global Common Names

Pardela Cola Corta - Puffin à bec grêle

Informal Taxonomy

Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Other Birds

Formal Taxonomy

Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Procellariiformes - Procellariidae - Puffinus

Ecology and Life History

Migration

false - false - true - Seen along British Columbia, U.S. west coast, and in central Pacific during southward migration in late northern summer through winter (National Geographic Society 1983, Cogswell 1977, Pratt et al. 1987). Some nonbreeders remain off California during northern winter (National Geographic Society 1983).

Non-migrant

false

Locally Migrant

false

Food Comments

Eats fishes taken from surface or by diving (Terres 1980).

Reproduction Comments

Egg laying occurs in November. Clutch size is 1. Incubation lasts 52-55 days. Tends to retain same mate in successive years. See Wooler et al. (1990). Some islands have colonies of several hundred thousand pairs (Austin et al. 1994).

Ecology Comments

Nonbreeding: may form flocks of at least 10,000s. <br><br>Despite strong philopatry, colony founding and recovery from population reductions evidently occur via immigration of a large number of individuals (Austin et al. 1994).

Length

Weight

543

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

1996-11-20

Global Status Last Changed

1996-11-20

Other Status

LC - Least concern

Distribution

Conservation Status Map

Global Range

Breeds on islands off coast (and locally along mainland coast) of southern Australia, with largest numbers around Tasmania and islands of the Bass Strait (see map in Austin et al. 1994). Ranges at sea in southern Australian and New Zealand waters, and north through Pacific Ocean to Bering and Chukchi seas (some to Beaufort Sea), south along west coast of North America to Baja California (Los Coronados Islands).

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.102589