Subantarctic Shearwater
Puffinus elegans
A small shearwater, with black coloring above and white below. The black on the face passes below the eye. Breeds on Antipodes and Chatham Islands, and in the South Atlantic. Fluttering and Hutton’s Shearwaters can be distinguished by their larger size and browner coloration above with smudgy brown underwing. Little Shearwater is most similar and can be distinguished by a paler face and dark coloring above or through the eye.
Taxonomy
The subantarctic shearwater is sometimes considered a subspecies of the little shearwater.
- Scientific name
- Puffinus elegans
- Authority
- Giglioli & Salvadori, 1869
- Order
- Procellariiformes
- Family
- Procellariidae
- Genus
- Puffinus
Range and habitat
- Breeding range
- AO, PO, IO: Tristan da Cunha and Gough (sc Atlantic), Star Keys (Chatham Is., e of South I.) and Antipodes Is. (se of South I.; New Zealand)
- Non-breeding range
- to Falkland Is. and sw Africa (South Atlantic Ocean), widely in s New Zealand seas and sc Chilean coast (South Pacific Ocean)
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
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