Buller's shearwater

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Buller's shearwater
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Procellariiformes
Family: Procellariidae
Genus: Ardenna
Species:
A. bulleri
Binomial name
Ardenna bulleri
(Salvin, 1888)

Buller's shearwater (Ardenna bulleri) is a

superspecies with the wedge-tailed shearwater (A. pacificus).[2]

Description

Migrating bird in Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary offshore California, United States; note upperwing pattern

Adults

wing coverts. The primary remiges are blackish, also; the two black areas do not meet at the hand, however; the area between them is a rather light grey, and under bright light may appear almost white. With the bird facing upwards, the pattern gives the impression of a broken black "M", with light grey interspersing areas.[3]

The underside is bright white; on the head the upperside's grey extends town to eye height and the white cheeks may shine up conspicuously, as in the smaller shearwaters of

rectrices are blackish and the tail is wedge-shaped; the bill and irises are dark. Fledged juveniles already have the adult's colouration; the nestlings are covered in grey down feathers.[3]

Compared to other shearwaters, the species is unusually easy to identify at sea by its combination of considerable size and the distinctive, M-shaped banding pattern on its upperside while flying, uniquely among its genus and more akin to some gadfly petrels (Pterodroma), the prions (Pachyptila) and their relative, the blue petrel (Halobaena caerulea). These are all much smaller birds, perhaps two-thirds in length and wingspan and less than half in bulk of Buller's shearwater.[3]

Range and ecology

This species is

Atlantic once, offshore New Jersey, United States.[3]

Buller's shearwater feeds mainly on

mixed-species feeding flock. Food is caught mainly at a head's length below the surface at most, the bird either picking it up with the bill only, often out of flight, or briefly inserting the entire head, usually while swimming. It neither dives out of flight very often, nor in a plunge off the water's surface.[3]

It is a

cliffs, however, and most of the other colonies – on the smaller Poor Knights islands between the main islands and off the southeast of Aorangi[verification needed] – are of such a nature. A pair was observed to breed on the Simmonds Islands in 1980,[7] but this seems to have been an isolated incident.[3]

The breeding season starts in October and lasts for almost half a year. A single egg is incubated for about 51 days, with the parents changing between incubation and feeding every 4 days or so. Time to

fledging is not well known, but by analogy with Buller's shearwater's relatives assumed to be around 100 days.[3]

In the past, it was heavily used as a food source by the

IUCN: a single localized catastrophe could wipe the species out.[8]

See also

  • Seabird colony

References

  1. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22698182A132632044.en
    . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ Carboneras (1992), Austin (1996), Austin et al. (2004), Penhallurick & Wink (2004)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Carboneras (1992)
  4. ^ Wiles et al. (2004)
  5. doi:10.1071/MU924037
    .
  6. ISBN 0195530683
    .
  7. ^ IUCN (2008)
  8. ^ Carboneras (1992), IUCN (2008)

Further reading

Further reading

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Buller%27s_shearwater&oldid=1118983399"