Cory's Shearwater

Cory's shearwater ( Calonectris diomedea )

The Cory's shearwater ( Calonectris diomedea ) (syn. Puffinus diomedea ), also called Sepia shearwater, is a wading bird of the order Procellariiformes. There are three subspecies: C. d diomedea ( Scopoli, 1769), C. d borealis ( Cory, 1881) and C. d edwardsii ( oustalet, 1883).

Features

The Cory's shearwater is up to 50 cm long and has a span of 115 cm. He is on the upper side pale gray - brown, lower side completely white. The primaries are slate gray to black. The beak is of a dirty - yellow color with a gray spot at the top. On the wing underside is a pale band draws from the elbow to the wrist.

Way of life

Cory's shearwaters are migratory and very long distances back to the sea. In the spring they nest on cliffs in the Mediterranean and North Atlantic, from October to spend the winter they move to the coasts of North America and Africa.

Cory's shearwater burrow up to two meters deep nest box over the cliff, or put their single white egg ( end of May) directly on the cliffs. This is incubated by both parents about 55 days. The boy slips in July and ten times its weight in a month. The parents are all day in search of food and feed the boy to protect against potential enemies only at dusk and at night. The young are fledged in September, a little later ( in October) attract the parents to warmer areas. The couple stays together for a lifetime.

Like all Procellariiformes also feeds on this Sturmtaucherart of small fish, squid and even waste.

The calls of Cory's shearwaters can be due to the fact that during the day they mainly reside on the sea, listen to the coasts in the evening and in the morning. They sound wailing or croaking

Dissemination

Large breeding colonies there are on islands in the Atlantic, especially in the Azores, where it (80 % of the world's stock ) is the most common breeding bird with 500,000 pairs. Other colonies in the Atlantic, there are in the Canaries and the islands belonging to Portugal, the Deserted Islands and Selvagens. In the Mediterranean, it breeds in the Balearic Islands, Corsica, Sicily, and the Peloponnese, as well. Along the coasts of the Aegean and Adriatic Sea In the Indian Ocean there is also to breeding colonies.