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Tuatara: Volume 21, Issues 1 and 2 (New Zealand Albatrosses and Petrels: an Identification Guide)

15. Flesh-FOOTED Shearwater — (Puffinus carneipes hullianus) — Plate 7

page 32

15. Flesh-FOOTED Shearwater
(Puffinus carneipes hullianus)
Plate 7

Field Characters: 109/48. A large, uniformly dark brown shearwater with pale bill and feet, and rounded tail. Under good light conditions the flight feathers and tail appear darker than the upperwing coverts and body plumage.

Bill pale pink with dark tip, the latter visible only at close range. Feet pale flesh coloured.

Differs from Wedge-tailed Shearwater (17) by its larger size, shorter tail, pale bill and flight behaviour.

Flight with assured, seemingly effortless wingbeats interspersed with gliding of varying duration close to the surface of the sea in calm weather. In windy weather, the flight consists of the usual shearwater soaring and wheeling. An inquisitive follower of small ships. Dives well and often in pursuit of food. (Fig. 11.)

Common during summer from Cook Strait northwards. Migrates to the northern Pacific during winter.

Summer breeder on New Zealand islands from Cook Strait northward and on Lord Howe Island.