Short-tailed Shearwater

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Short-tailed Shearwater
Conservation status
Least concern (LC)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Procellariiformes Family: Procellariidae Genus: Puffinus Species: P. tenuirostris
Binomial name
Puffinus tenuirostris (Temminck, 1835)

The Short-tailed Shearwater Puffinus tenuirostris, also commonly known as the Muttonbird in Australia, is the most abundant seabird species in Australia, and is one of the few Australian native birds that is commercially harvested. It is a migratory species that breeds in Australia and migrates to the Northern Hemisphere for the boreal summer. It is worth noting that the Muttonbird of New Zealand is a different species, the Sooty Shearwater.

Each parent feeds the chick for 2–3 days and then leaves for up to three weeks in search of food. These foraging trips can cover a distance of 15,000 km (9,300 mi) and mean the chick may be left unattended for over a week. When the time the chicks have reached independence they weigh around 900 g (2 lb), and may be heavier than their parents. The young are killed for food and oil.

Each austral winter, the Shearwaters migrate to the seas off the Aleutian Islands and Kamchatka. In the austral spring, they travel down the coast of California before crossing the Pacific back to Australia.

[edit] References

• BirdLife International (2004). Puffinus tenuirostris. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 10 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern

[edit] External links

• Birds of Tasmania
• Port Fairy's site on shearwaters