Sooty Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater ( Puffinus griseus )
The sooty shearwater ( Puffinus griseus ) belongs to the family of the petrels. He is a breeding bird in the southern hemisphere, but it is on the North Sea coast, a regular migrant, which can be mainly observed in the months of August to November. Since the 1970s, the number of observations in the North Sea area increases, which may be due to an improved food supply by the increase of sprat and a change in the distribution of juvenile herring shoals.
Description
This bird is 40 to 50 cm long and has a wingspan of 95-110 cm. He has a dark plumage and appears almost black in poor weather conditions. When the sun shines you can see the dark gray to dark brown in color and in addition a silvery edge to the underside of the wings.
In the flight, he constantly Tips Like other shearwaters from one side to the other, leads only a few wing beats from. With its powerful and straight flight, the bird is reminiscent of a greatly reduced albatross.
Proliferation and migration
The breeding sites of this kind are on small islands in the South Pacific and South Atlantic, especially around New Zealand, the Falkland Islands and Tierra del Fuego. The population is currently estimated at 20 million animals, but this number decreases significantly.
This shearwater is a migratory bird who graduated a very long circular route annually. After the breeding season, which is completed from March to May, the train is on the west side of the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean to the north. In June or July subarctic waters are reached and crossed the respective ocean from west to east. As of September or October it is on the east side back into the breeding areas that are reached in November. Only the Atlantic route from the Falkland Islands to the North Atlantic off Norway is 14,000 kilometers. Rare bird could also be observed in the Baltic Sea. The wintering areas of New Zealand's shearwaters are in the Aleutian Islands.
Food
The sooty shearwater feeds on fish and squid, and can dive up to 68 meters deep. Most of the food is included in the upper water layers. These birds were observed as they accompany whales and fishing boats to capture startled fish.
Reproduction
This bird breeds in large colonies and builds its nest in a hole, he only visited at night to avoid attacks of large gulls.
More
This bird is traditionally caught and eaten by the New Zealand Maori. The young birds are taken from the nests before they are airworthy. For better storage, the meat is often salted. They now come together with the pink-footed shearwater as so-called Tasmanian youngsters in New Zealand on the market. Quotas to ensure that this operation has no impact on the stock.
The shearwaters keeps the distance world record for migratory birds. A copy was observed, the back put 64,000 kilometers per year. In addition, the bird turned up in depths of up to 68 meters.