Streaked Shearwater
Calonectris leucomelas
Large, fairly common shearwater of the western Pacific. White underparts, brown upperparts, and a mottled brownish-white head distinctive. Forages in both shelf and pelagic waters, often forming large flocks that prey on small fish pursued by larger predatory fish. Languid, gull-like flight except in high winds, when flight more wheeling, in large arcs. Occasionally seen from shorelines, especially during storms.
Identification
The streaked shearwater feeds mainly on fish and squid. It follows fishing boats, attracted to anchovy crawls off Japan and has been known to be taken as by-catch in nets or drowned when ingesting the bait on long-line fishing lines.<p>The streaked shearwater nests in burrows. It prefers forested hills.<p>This bird is abundant and widespread; however, some mortality occurs through becoming entangled in fishing nets, and from some predation by cats and rats. In addition, it is harvested by some traditional endemic human cultures.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Calonectris leucomelas
- Authority
- (Temminck, 1836)
- Order
- Procellariiformes
- Family
- Procellariidae
- Genus
- Calonectris
Range and habitat
This species is pelagic, but is also found in inshore waters. It occurs in the Pacific Ocean, nesting in Japan and the Korean Peninsula, predominantly on their offshore islands. After breeding, the streaked shearwater migrate south, feeding in the seas off northern New Guinea, the Arafura Sea, and the South China Sea. Calonectris leucomelas have also been reported well off the west coast of the United States, from the southern coast of India, and from New Zealand. There is also a record of a specimen collected in Wyoming.
- Breeding range
- PO : islands from Russian Far East, Korean Pen., and Japan to islands off w Taiwan
- Non-breeding range
- w Pacific to Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea, n Australia, Melanesia and Micronesia
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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