Learn what every symbol on the card means.Full credits and sources at beakbrain.com/symbols
MarineCavity nestLarge · 849 g
ID tip
This shearwater is 43–51 cm (16.9–20.1 in) in length with a 105–122 cm (3.5–4.0 ft) wingspan. It is identifiable by its size, dark upper parts, and white under parts, with the exception of a brown belly patch and dark shoulder markings. It has a black cap, black bill, and a white "horseshoe" on the base of the tail. The stiff flight, like a large Manx shearwater, is also distinctive. The only other large shearwaters in its range are the Cory's Shearwater and the all-dark Sooty Shearwater.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
When to see the Great Shearwater
One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 6 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is August, the month with the most records.
Where to see the Great Shearwater
The map shades 32 countries with regular records, and 13 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.
Recorded as a rare visitor in Australia, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Costa Rica, New Zealand, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Israel, Cuba, St. Barthélemy, Belgium, Denmark.
About the Great Shearwater
The great shearwater is a large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It breeds colonially on rocky islands in the South Atlantic. Outside the breeding season it ranges widely in the Atlantic.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Easily confused with
Wedge-tailed ShearwaterArdenna pacificaThe wedge-tailed shearwater is the largest of the tropical shearwaters.
Pink-footed ShearwaterArdenna creatopusMale pink-footed shearwaters on average are found to be larger than females.
Short-tailed ShearwaterArdenna tenuirostrisThe short-tailed shearwater or slender-billed shearwater, also called yolla or moonbird, and commonly known as the muttonbird both in early Australia and in New Zealand, is the most abundant seabird species in Australian waters, and is one of the few Australian native birds in which the chicks are commercially harvested.
Side by side: Great Shearwater vs Sooty Shearwater · Great Shearwater vs Pink-footed Shearwater · Great Shearwater vs Wedge-tailed Shearwater · Buller's Shearwater vs Great Shearwater
Learn the Great Shearwater in the BeakBrain App
Photo and call practice. Coming soon to iPhone and Android.
Play today's Daily BirdEvery photo and recording on this page is credited to its author under the licence shown. Spotted a problem with this page, or have a better photo? Contribute.