Manx Shearwater

Manx shearwater ( Puffinus puffinus ) (left) with Dark shearwaters ( Puffinus griseus )

The Manx shearwater ( Puffinus puffinus ), also called Atlantic shearwaters, is a species in the family of the petrels. The species is a regular guest bird on the North Coast of Central Europe. Also in the Central European inland this type has already been proven several times.

Description

Full grown achieve Manx shearwater a body length 31-36 cm and a weight of 375 to 500 grams. The bird is one of the sea-birds of the Atlantic and breeds in the North Atlantic Ocean on islands off the west coast of Wales and the Hebridean island of Rum There are also small populations in the Azores, Madeira, the Salvage Islands, the Canary Islands and on islands off Brittany and on the Balearic Islands ( there subspecies Puffinus puffinus mauretanicus ). The total European population is estimated at about 350000-390000 breeding pairs.

In the northern breeding areas of the Manx shearwater is a migratory bird, who is during the winter half of the year over the waters off South America. A small portion may also wintered off the coasts of South Africa. Adult birds migrate from July into winter quarters, juvenile birds follow in September. You return in the period from late February to early April. The migration routes of the Manx shearwater are not yet fully investigated, but it may perform a Schleifenzug clockwise over the South Atlantic.

The diet consists of small fish, cephalopods and crustaceans. Also on the sea driving waste is eaten. The breeding places of the Manx shearwater are grassy cliffs that are further away from the sea. The colonies of this type are often very large. Individual birds of this species take the first nesting attempts at an age of three or four years. However, there are a greater number of individuals that breed only from the age of eight. You enter into a monogamous marriage duration and show nest site fidelity. The nest is a dug by both parents birds cave, which has a depth of one to two meters. They only lay a clutch, which is incubated by both parents birds. The individual phases of breeding take about six days, but detachments are already after a day or even been observed only after 26 days. The nestling is brooded until the eighth or tenth day and after feeding at a distance from 1.5 to 2.2 days. The young birds will leave after about sixty days from the parents birds. Then strong lose weight and fly to about eight to ten days off.

Manx shearwater may be very old. The oldest bird ring reached an age of more than 52 years, making it one of the oldest occupied by ring recoveries birds at all. The extreme vocalizations of birds also have the name " devil bird" introduced them in many regions.

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