Sepia shearwater
| Sepia shearwater | ||||||||||
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Sepia Shearwater ( Calonectris diomedea ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Calonectris diomedea | ||||||||||
| ( Scopoli , 1769) |
The sepia shearwater ( Calonectris diomedea , Syn .: Puffinus diomedea ), formerly known as the yellow-billed shearwater , is a species of bird belonging to the tube-nosed order . There are three subspecies: C. d. diomedea ( Scopoli , 1769), C. d. borealis ( Cory , 1881) and C. d. edwardsii ( Oustalet , 1883).
features
The sepia shearwater becomes up to 50 cm long and reaches a wingspan of 115 cm. It is pale gray-brown on the top and completely white on the underside. The wings are slate gray to black. The beak is a dirty yellow color with a gray spot on the tip. On the underside of the wing, a pale band runs from the elbow to the wrist.
Way of life
Yellow-billed shearwaters are migratory birds and cover long distances over the sea. In spring they nest on cliffs in the Mediterranean and North Atlantic, and from October they hibernate on the coasts of North America and Africa .
Sepia shearwaters dig a nesting hole up to two meters deep over the cliffs, or lay their only white egg (at the end of May) directly on the cliffs. This is incubated by both parents for about 55 days. The cub hatches in July and increases its weight tenfold in one month. The adult birds search for food all day long and only feed the young at dusk and at night to protect them from potential predators. The young fledglings in September, a little later (in October) the parents move to warmer areas. The couple stays together for life.
Like all tube noses, this species of shearwater feeds on small fish, octopus, and even litter.
The calls of the shearwater can be heard on the coast in the evening and in the morning due to the fact that they spend most of the day at sea. They sound whining or croaking.
distribution
There are large breeding colonies on islands in the Atlantic , especially in the Azores , where it is the most common breeding bird with 500,000 pairs (80% of the world population). There are other colonies in the Atlantic on the Canaries and the islands belonging to Portugal, Madeira , the Ilhas Desertas and Ilhas Selvagens . In the Mediterranean, it breeds on the Balearic Islands , Corsica , Sicily and the Peloponnese peninsula , as well as on the coasts of the Aegean and Adriatic Seas. There are also said to be breeding colonies in the Indian Ocean.
literature
- Gerald S. Tuck and Hermann Heinzel : The sea birds of the world. Parey, Hamburg / Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-490-07818-7 .
- Peter H. Barthel and Paschalis Dougalis: What is flying there? Franckh-Kosmos Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-440-11929-7 .
Web links
- Calonectris diomedea in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2009. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2009. Accessed July 26 of 2010.
- Videos, photos and sound recordings on Calonectris diomedea in the Internet Bird Collection
- Description of the Sepia Shearwater
- Feathers of the sepia shearwater