Shearwater
medium-sized long-winged seabirds, common name for a subgroup of the family Procellariidae
Shearwaters are medium-sized long-winged seabirds in the petrel family Procellariidae. They have a global marine distribution, but are most common in temperate and cold waters, and are pelagic outside the breeding season.
Description
These tubenose birds fly with stiff wings and use a "shearing" flight technique (flying very close to the water and seemingly or actually cutting or "shearing" the waves with the tips of their wings) to move across wave fronts with the minimum of active flight. This technique gives the group its English name. Some small species like the Manx shearwater are cruciform in flight, with their long wings held directly out from their bodies. They range in size from 25 to 56 cm (9.8 to 22.0 in) long with wingspans from 58 to 125 cm (23 to 49 in), and weights of 150 to 1,000 g (5.3 to 35.3 oz). Many are black above and white below, or brown above and pale or dusky below, while some are more-or-less uniformly dark brown all over; one (Buller's shearwater) is distinct in being patterned pale grey and black above. All are evolved for swimming, and have short legs and webbed feet; they can only shuffle awkwardly on land, so visit their breeding sites on remote islands under cover of darkness. They differ from other petrels in having a slender build and particularly, relatively long and slender bills.
Taxonomy
A total of 31 species are currently accepted, with four large species in the genus Calonectris, seven medium-size to large species in the genus Ardenna, and 20 smaller species in the genus Puffinus.
The public source identifies “Shearwater” as medium-sized long-winged seabirds, common name for a subgroup of the family Procellariidae. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Shearwater, medium-sized and long-winged.
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This entry incorporates text from “Shearwater” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.