Sooty Shearwater

Overview

The sooty shearwater (Ardenna grisea) is a medium-large seabird in the family Procellariidae, also known in New Zealand as tītī. Classified as Near Threatened by the IUCN, it is a spectacular long-distance migrant that traverses the South Pacific and South Atlantic Oceans.

Identification

• Length of 40–51 cm with a wingspan of 94–110 cm, giving the impression of a very small albatross in flight.
• Dark chocolate-brown plumage that appears all black in poor light, featuring a distinctive silvery strip along the centre of the underwing.
• Stiff, direct flight with wings held straight, dipping side to side with few wing beats until the tips nearly touch the water.
• Vocal at night on breeding grounds with loud coos and croaks, but usually silent at sea except when competing for food.

Habitat

Breeds on small islands in the South Pacific around Australia and New Zealand, and in the South Atlantic on the Falkland Islands, Tierra del Fuego, and Tristan da Cunha. It migrates in large circular routes to subarctic waters in the North Pacific and North Atlantic, covering distances exceeding 14,000 km annually.

Diet

Feeds primarily on fish and squid, often following whales to capture fish disturbed by their activity or scavenging scraps from fishing boats. Although it can dive up to 68 m deep for food, it more commonly takes surface food.

Did you know?

In August 1961, an incident in Monterey Bay where thousands of crazed sooty shearwaters regurgitated anchovies and flew into objects provided a key real-world inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 thriller The Birds.