Pink-footed Shearwater

Ardenna creatopus

Order

PROCELLARIIFORMES

Family

Petrels and Shearwaters (Procellariidae)

Code 4

PFSH

Code 6

PUFCRE

ITIS

Egg Color:

White



Number of Eggs:

1



Incubation Days:

48 - 56



Egg Incubator:

Both sexes



Nest Location:

In burrow or rock crevices.



Nest Material:

No material added to nest.



Migration:

Migratory



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General

Pink-footed Shearwater: Large shearwater with gray-brown upperparts, white underparts, and mottled brown flanks and undertail coverts. White underparts and wing linings are variably mottled. Head is gray-brown and pink bill is tipped with black. Flight feathers are dark-bordered and underwing coverts are mottled gray. Legs and feet are pink. Sexes are similar.

Range and Habitat

Pink-footed Shearwater: Breeds on islands off coast of Chile; migratory, and a regular summer visitor off the Pacific Coast of North America from central Mexico to southern Alaska. Winters in the subarctic waters of the Pacific Ocean. Pelagic, preferring open ocean, well offshore over the continental shelf coming ashore only for breeding.

Breeding and Nesting

Pink-footed Shearwater: One white egg is laid in a burrow on a grassy island and incubated by both parents for 48 to 56 days.

Foraging and Feeding

Pink-footed Shearwater: Feeds on small fish, squid, and crustaceans. Forages by plunge diving from flight; also snatches food from the water surface. Rarely follows ships.

Vocalization

Pink-footed Shearwater: Silent at sea.

Similar Species

Pink-footed Shearwater: Black-vented Shearwater is much smaller with a faster wing beat. Streaked Shearwater is paler below with a streaked nape.

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UnderpartsX

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Undertail covertsX
Small feathers that cover the areas where the retrices (tail feathers) attach to the rump.
UpperpartsX
Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.
Flight feathersX
Located on the wing, and collectively called remiges (singular, remex). The long stiff feathers are subdivided into two major groups based on the location and are called primaries and secondaries.
PelagicX
The pelagic is a type of bird whose habitat is on the open ocean rather than in a coastal region or on inland bodies of water (lakes, rivers). An example of a pelagic bird is the blacklegged kittiwake.
Parts of a Standing bird X
Head Feathers and Markings X
Parts of a Flying bird X