Sooty Shearwater Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  Gull-sized but with narrower wings and a smaller, rounded head. The bill is long, slender, and strongly hooked, with tubelike nostrils set on top of the bill. Tail is fairly short.

  Relative Size

  Larger than a Bonaparte's Gull, smaller than a Herring Gull.

  crow-sized

  Measurements

  • Both Sexes
  • • Length: 15.8-20.1 in (40-51 cm)
    • Weight: 22.9-34.5 oz (650-978 g)
    • Wingspan: 37.0-42.9 in (94-109 cm)

  © Blair Dudeck / Macaulay Library

• Color Pattern

  Dark brown overall (paler with wear and sun-bleaching), with grayish white underwing coverts. Bill, eye, and feet dark.

• Behavior

  Forages in flocks, often mixed with other seabirds. Flies low over the water with occasional stiff wingbeats; in windy conditions soars in a high arcs above the ocean followed by rapid bursts of flapping. Picks prey from the surface and sometimes swims underwater to pursue fish and other prey.

• Habitat

  Nests on isolated islands and headlands in the Southern Hemisphere, usually in grassy or wooded areas, where pairs dig long burrows in the soil for the nest. Forages on the open oceans, seeking out areas where currents concentrate prey. Migrates vast distances between breeding and nonbreeding grounds.