Birds of the World

    PROCELLARIIFORMES: Procellariidae (Petrels, Shearwaters, Diving Petrels)  
Genus: Puffinus (21 species)

Genus Puffinus, typical Shearwaters, are fish-eating pelagic birds (feeding far from shore) ranging from 30-45 cm.. Shearwaters use stiff wings to glide low over the water. Many species can plunge-dive for fish.


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Little Shearwater (Puffinus assimilis)
Range: IO, PO: sc Indian Ocean, islets off sw, s Australia and outlying islands of New Zealand
   



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Townsend's Shearwater (Puffinus auricularis) Critically Endangered
Range: PO: montane Socorro and Clarion is. (Revillagigedo Is., far w of c Mexico)
   



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Tropical Shearwater (Puffinus bailloni)
Range: IO, PO: tropical Indian and tropical Pacific oceans
 



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Bannerman's Shearwater (Puffinus bannermani) Endangered
Range: PO: Higashijima (Ogasawara=Bonin Is.) and Minami-iwo-jima (Volcano=Iwo Is.; far se Japan)
 



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Barolo Shearwater (Puffinus baroli)
Range: AO: islets off Graciosa and Santa Maria (c, s Azores); Porto Santo and Desertas groups (ne, se Madeira); Selvagem Grande (Salvage Is., n of Canary Is.); Tenerife and satellites, and satellites off Lanzarote (wc, e Canary Is.)
 



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Boyd's Shearwater (Puffinus boydi)
Range: AO: Cape Verde Is. (except Maio; extinct Sal)
 



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Bryan's Shearwater (Puffinus bryani) Critically Endangered
Range: PO: Higashi-jima (n Bonin=Ogasawara Is., far se Japan)
 



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Subantarctic Shearwater (Puffinus elegans)
Range: AO, PO, IO: Tristan da Cunha and Gough (sc Atlantic), Star Keys (Chatham Is., e of South I.) and Antipodes Is. (se of South I.; New Zealand):
 



Fluttering Shearwater
Fluttering Shearwater (Puffinus gavia)
Range: PO: islets of ne North I. and Marlborough Sounds (ne South I.; New Zealand)
East of the Tasman Peninsula, Tasmania, Australia  
 
Photograph by JJ Harrison     Copyright and usage info


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Heinroth's Shearwater (Puffinus heinrothi) Vulnerable
Range: PO: presumably montane Bougainville, Kolombangara and Rendova (n, wc Solomon Is.)
 



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Hutton's Shearwater (Puffinus huttoni) Endangered
Range: PO: montane ne South I. (New Zealand)
 



Audubon's Shearwater
Audubon's Shearwater (Puffinus lherminieri)
Range: AO: Elbow Cay (e of c Abaco, n Bahamas), Long Cay (Exumas, ec Bahamas), off n Cuba, e of Puerto Rico, and the Lesser Antilles (Caribbean Sea); Crab Cay (Providencia Is., e of Nicaragua); Tiger Cay (Bocos del Toro Arch., Caribbean nw Panama); is. Los Roques, O
North Carolina, United States  
   
Photograph by Dominic Sherony     Copyright and usage info


Balearic Shearwater
Balearic Shearwater (Puffinus mauretanicus) Critically Endangered
Range: AO: islets of Balearic Is. (w Mediterranean Sea)
Lyme Bay, England  
 
Photograph by Stephen G. Davis   © All Rights Reserved.


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Rapa Shearwater (Puffinus myrtae) Critically Endangered
Range: PO: Tauturou, Rapa Iti and Karapoo Iti (islets off Rapa, e Tubuai=Austral Is., se Polynesia)
 



Christmas Shearwater
Christmas Shearwater (Puffinus nativitatis)
Range: PO: islands of Northwestern Hawaiian Is., Lehua and Ka'ula (n, sw of Ni'hau, w of Kauai), Moku Manu (O'ahu; Hawaiian Is.), Line, Austral, Marquesas, Gambier, Pitcairn, Easter (=Eastern) groups and is. Salas y Gomez (e Polynesia)
Hawaii,  
 
Photograph by Matt Grube   © All Rights Reserved.


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Newell's Shearwater (Puffinus newelli) Critically Endangered
Range: PO: Lehua (n of Nihau), montane Kauai, Molokai and Hawaii (main Hawaiian Is.)
 



Black-vented Shearwater
Black-vented Shearwater (Puffinus opisthomelas) Near Threatened
Range: PO: I. San Martin (w of nw Baja), Guadalupe, San Benito, Cedros, and Is. Natividad (w of c Baja California), and I. Rasa (n Gulf of California; nw Mexico)
California, United States  
   
Photograph by Julio Mulero     Copyright and usage info


Persian Shearwater
Persian Shearwater (Puffinus persicus)
Range: IO: breeds Khuriya Muriya Is. (s of Oman), Socotra and Moheli (=Mwali, Comoro Is.)
United Arab Emirates  
 
Photograph by Mohd Khorshed     Copyright and usage info


Manx Shearwater
Manx Shearwater (Puffinus puffinus)
Range: AO: islands of subarctic, temperate and subtropical North Atlantic Ocean
South Africa  
   
Photograph by Graham Searll   © All Rights Reserved.

A small shearwater found in colder areas in the Atlantic; rare, but present in Pacific.

Galapagos Shearwater
Galapagos Shearwater (Puffinus subalaris)
Range: PO: islets off Wolf (=Wenman), Santa Cruz (=Indefatigable), Campeon (=Champion, ne of Floreana), Islote Pitt (ne of San Cristobal=Chatham) and Espanola (=Hood; Galápagos)
Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala  
   
Photograph by Dominic Sherony     Copyright and usage info

A smallish (30 cm.) two-colored shearwater with short broad wings (HBW). Pelagic, but often recorded relatively close to shore.

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Yelkouan Shearwater (Puffinus yelkouan) Vulnerable
Range: AO: islets of c, e Mediterranean and w Black Sea
 




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