Everything about Calonectris totally explained
Calonectris is a genus of
seabirds. It comprises three large
shearwaters. There are two other shearwater genera.
Puffinus, which comprises about twenty small to medium-sized shearwaters, and
Procellaria with another four large species. The latter are usually named as
petrels, although they're thought to be more closely related to the shearwaters than to the other
petrels.
The taxonomy of this group is the cause of some debate, and it's only recently that the
Cape Verde Shearwater has been split from
Cory's Shearwater.
The species in this group are long-winged birds, dark brown or grey-brown above, and mainly white below. They are pelagic outside the breeding season. They are most common in temperate and cold waters.
These
tubenose birds fly with stiff wings, and use a shearing flight technique to move across wave fronts with the minimum of active flight. Their flight appears more
albatross-like than the
Puffinus species.
Calonectris shearwaters are long-distance
migrants. Streaked Shearwater disperses from its east
Asian breeding islands throughout the western
Pacific and into the eastern
Indian Ocean.
Cory's has two subspecies.
C. d. diomedea breeds in the
Mediterranean and
C. d. borealis on the
Azores, the
Canary Islands and
Madeira. It disperses throughout the
Atlantic Ocean and into the western Indian Ocean. These may be distinct species (Heidrich
et al. 1998).
Calonectris shearwaters come to islands and coastal cliffs only to breed. They are nocturnal at the colonial breeding sites, preferring moonless nights to minimise predation. They nest in burrows and often give eerie contact calls on their nighttime visits. They lay a single white egg.
They feed on fish, squid and similar oceanic food. They will follow fishing boats to take scraps.
List of species
A prehistoric species,
Calonectris krantzi, has also been described from
fossils.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Calonectris'.
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