Scientific name: Puffinus puffinus (Brunnich, 1764)
Bird group: Shearwaters and Petrels
Field characters. Length 30-35 cm; wingspan 76-82 cm. Smaller than Great Shearwater and Cory's Shearwater with sharp contrast between uniformly black upperparts and white underparts. Bill slender. Usually in scattered groups, gliding on rigid wings, now tilting to one side and then to the other, thus displaying upper- and underside; occasionally varied by a few rapid wing beats.
Voice. Breeding adults utter a variety of crowing, cooing, and screaming noises; similar in sequence but of different pitch.
Distribution. Breeds locally in small or very large colonies.
Habitat. Breeds on turfy, rock-girt islands, and turfy slopes of cliffs.
Food. Mainly small fish, but also small crustaceans, cephalopods, and offal floating on the surface. A day-time feeder, practising pursuit-plunging, pursuit-diving, and surface-seizing.
Eggs. Ground colour white, not glossy. Shape broad ovate. Size 61 x 42 mm (56-68 x 39-45), weight 57 g.