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Sooty Shearwater

Ardenna grisea

Family Procellariidae

Vulnerable — AUS: Vulnerable, QLD: Vulnerable, VIC: Vulnerable, WA: Migratory, JAMBA: Listed

About

The sooty shearwater is a medium-large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. In New Zealand, it is also known by its Māori name tītī, and is harvested by Māori people for muttonbird, like its relatives the wedge-tailed shearwater and the Australian short-tailed shearwater.

How to spot it

Sooty shearwaters are 40–51 cm (16–20 in) in length with a 94–110 cm (37–43 in) wingspan. It has the typical "shearing" flight of the genus, dipping from side to side on stiff wings with few wing beats, the wingtips almost touching the water.

Documented on these trails

Found in