BirdUp · Species
Wedge-tailed Shearwater
Ardenna pacifica(Gmelin, JF, 1789)
- Order
- PROCELLARIIFORMES
- Family
- Procellariidae
- Genus
- Ardenna
- Commonness
- Very common
- Best seen
- Year-round
01 · Identification
How to tell it apart
The wedge-tailed shearwater is a medium-large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It is one of the shearwater species that is sometimes referred to as a muttonbird, like the sooty shearwater of New Zealand and the short-tailed shearwater of Australia. It is found throughout the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans, roughly between latitudes 35°N and 35°S. It breeds on the islands off Japan, on the Islas Revillagigedo, the Hawaiian Islands, the Seychelles, the Northern Mariana Islands, and off Eastern and Western Australia.
Description · wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
02 · Where
Where to find it
- Breeding range
- PO, IO : islets of tropical South Indian Ocean: Amirantes and Inner Is. (central and north-east Seychelles) and Mascarenes (Malagasy region), Chagos and Cocos (Keeling) (south-east Indian Ocean), New Guinea region, and west Australia; islets of subtropical and tropical Pacific Ocean: east Australia including Torres Strait is. (north-east Australia), Lord Howe and Norfolk is. (far east of Australia), Kermadec Is. (north-east of North I., New Zealand); Solomon Is., Vanuatu and New Caledonia; Senkaku (=Pescadores Is.), Ogasawara (=Bonin Is.) and Iwo (=Volcano Is; south of Japan); throughout Micronesia and Polynesia (except Cook and Pitcairn groups); Northwestern and main Hawaiian Is.; and Revillagigedo Is. (far west of central Mexico)
- Non-breeding range
- To Arabian Sea coasts of north-west Africa and east Malagasy region, south India and Bay of Bengal in tropical Indian Ocean; through seas of south and east Indonesian Arch.; in Pacific, to Tasmania and waters north of North I. (New Zealand) and to coastal waters of east North Pacific from south Baja California (north-west Mexico) to south Panama
03 · When
When to look
Months this species is recorded across its Australian range.
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
05 · Behaviour
Habits and haunts
06 · Gallery
Plumage up close
4 photos
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