Cory's shearwater

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Cory's shearwater
Cory's shearwater in fight

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Procellariiformes
Family: Procellariidae
Genus: Calonectris
Species:
C. borealis
Binomial name
Calonectris borealis
(Cory, 1881)

Cory's shearwater (Calonectris borealis) is a large

conspecific with Scopoli's shearwater
.

Taxonomy

Cory's shearwater was

monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.[4]

The

Cape Verde Islands
and has an all dark, slim bill, and darker head and upperparts than Cory's. The flight has been described as rather more typically shearwater-like than the Cory's, with stiffer and more rapid wing beats.

nominate subspecies became Scopoli's shearwater (Calonectris diomedea).[4][7]

Description

This shearwater is identifiable by its size, at 45–56 cm (18–22 in) in length and with a 112–126 cm (44–50 in) wingspan. It has brownish-grey upperparts, white underparts and a yellowish bill. It lacks the brown belly patch, dark shoulder markings and black cap of the great shearwater.

Distribution and habitat

This species breeds on Madeira, the Azores and the Berlengas Archipelago in Portugal and the Canary Islands in Spain.

Behaviour and ecology

This bird flies with long glides, and always with wings bowed and angled slightly back, unlike the stiff, straight-winged flight of the similarly sized great shearwater.

Breeding

They nest on open ground or among rocks or less often in a

burrow where one white egg is laid. The burrow is visited at night to minimise predation from large gulls. In late summer and autumn, most birds migrate into the Atlantic as far north as the south-western coasts of Great Britain and Ireland. They return to the Mediterranean in February. The biggest colony is located in Savage Islands
, Madeira.

Food and feeding

Cory's shearwater feeds on

molluscs and offal, and can dive deep (15 m (49 ft) or more) in search of prey. It readily follows fishing boats, where it indulges in noisy squabbles. This is a gregarious species, which can be seen in large numbers from ships or appropriate headlands. The Bay of Biscay
ferries are particularly good for this species. It is silent at sea, but at night the breeding colonies are alive with raucous cackling calls.

Gallery

Notes

  1. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22732244A132661794.en
    . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ Cory, Charles B. (1881). "Description of a new species of the family Procellariidae". Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club. 6 (2): 84.
  3. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1915.tb08206.x
    .
  4. ^
    Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2022). "Petrels, albatrosses"
    . IOC World Bird List Version 12.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
  5. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4
    .
  6. ^ Kuhl, Heinrich (1820). Beiträge zur Zoologie und vergleichenden Anatomie (in German and Latin). Frankfurt am Main: Verlag der Hermannschen Buchhandlung. p. 148.
  7. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.2012.01273.x
    .

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Calonectris borealis.
Wikispecies has information related to Calonectris diomedea.

Further reading

  • Rodríguez A, Rodríguez B, Negro JJ (2015) GPS tracking for mapping seabird mortality induced by light pollution. Scientific Reports 5: 10670. doi:10.1038/srep10670
  • Rodríguez A, Rodríguez B, Carrasco MN (2012) High prevalence of parental delivery of plastic debris in Cory's shearwaters (Calonectris diomedea). Marine Pollution Bulletin 64: 2219–2223. doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2012.06.011
  • Ramírez, Oscar Ramírez; Gómez-Díaz, Elena; Olalde, Iñigo; Illera, Juan Carlos; Rando, Juan Carlos; González-Solís, Jacob; Lalueza-Fox, Carles (2013). "Population connectivity buffers genetic diversity loss in a seabird" (PDF). Frontiers in Zoology. 10 (28): 28.
    PMID 23688345
    .
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