Argentina, Australia (B), Cape Verde, Chile, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), French Polynesia (B), French Southern Territories (B), Mauritania, Morocco, New Zealand (B), Norfolk Island (B), Papua New Guinea (B), Portugal (B), Senegal, South Africa, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Spain (B), St Helena (B).
Vagrant to Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, French Guiana, Germany, Gibraltar, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Peru, United Kingdom, USA.
Food
Planktonic crustaceans, molluscs, small fish, squid and carrion.
Voice
Silent at sea. Screaming 'churrs' at nesting colonies. A hoarse, asthmatic 'wah-i-wah-i-wah-ooo', repeated several times, uttered in flight above colonies and from the ground, in burrows and from the surface. Young uttered repeated chittering or liquid chirrups when begging, bill-fencing and when parents return to the nest.
Raucous growls accompany fighting is Western Australia.
Nest
In a chamber at the end of a burrow or rock crevice. In colonies.
Eggs (Guide)
1; matt, smooth textured, white; long-oval to short oval; about 52 x 36 mm. Incubation: 52 - 58 days; by both sexes.
Young
Semi-altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 70 - 75 days. Fed by both sexes, by incomplete regurgitation.
Subspecies
Puffinus lherminieri (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) was split into Audubon's Shearwater (Puffinus lherminieri) and Puffinus baroli by Sangster et al. (2005) but this treatment is not followed by the BirdLife International.
Two in Australian waters: one (assimilis) in the east, the other (kermadecensis), smaller, in the west.
The following 8 subspecies are recognised:
assimilis Gould, 1838 - Breeds Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands.
tunneyi Mathews, 1912 - Offshore islands in south-western Australia.
kermadecensis Murphy, 1927 - Kermadec Island.
haurakienis Fleming and Serventy, 1943 - Islands off north-eastern North Island, New Zealand.
elegans Giglioli & Salvadori, 1869 - Chatham and Antipodes Islands, and Tristan da Cunha Group and Gough Island in the South Atlantic. Also known as Subantarctic Shearwater. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Subantarctic Shearwater (Puffinus elegans).
baroli (Bonaparte, 1857) - Azores, Desertas, Salvage and Canary islands. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Mascarene Shearwater (Puffinus baroli).
myrtae Bourne, 1959 - In Austral Group and southern central Pacific Ocean. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Rapa Shearwater (Puffinus myrtae).
haurakiensis Fleming, CA & Serventy, 1943 - Islets off north-eastern coast of North I. (New Zealand).
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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BirdLife International Species Factsheet