Flesh-footed Shearwater

Ardenna carneipes(Gould, 1844)

Native

Order: PROCELLARIIFORMES
Family: Procellariidae
Genus: Ardenna

Commonness: Very common
Best seen: Year-round

01 · Identification

How to tell it apart

The flesh-footed shearwater is a medium-large shearwater that mainly inhabits the Indo-Pacific. Its plumage is black with pale pinkish feet, and a pale bill with a distinct black tip. Together with the equally light-billed pink-footed shearwater, it forms the Hemipuffinus group, a superspecies which may or may not have an Atlantic relative in the great shearwater. These large shearwaters are among those that have been separated into the genus Ardenna. Recent genetic analysis indicates evidence of strong divergence between Pacific colonies relative to those in South and Western Australia, thought to be explained by philopatry and differences in foraging strategies during the breeding season.

Description · wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

02 · Where

Where to find it

Breeding range: PO, IO : islets off St. Paul (central Indian Ocean), south-west and south Australia, Lord Howe I. (east of Australia), North I. and Cook Strait (New Zealand)
Non-breeding range: To Arabian Sea, east Malagasy region, north Pacific east of Japan, Sea of Okhotsk to Gulf of Alaska and west USA coast (rare)

03 · When