Great Shearwater

About the Great Shearwater

The great shearwater (Ardenna gravis) is a large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It breeds colonially on rocky islands in the South Atlantic. Outside the breeding season it ranges widely in the Atlantic.

The great shearwater was formally described in 1818 by the Irish naturalist Bernard O'Reilly and given the binomial name Procellaria gravis. The great shearwater is now placed in the genus Ardenna that was introduced in 1853 by Ludwig Reichenbach. The genus name Ardenna was used to refer to a seabird by Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi in 1603. The specific epithet gravis is Latin meaning "heavy" or "weighty". The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.

This shearwater is 43–51 cm (16.9–20.1 in) in length with a 105–122 cm (3.5–4.0 ft) wingspan. It is identifiable by its size, dark upper parts, and white under parts, with the exception of a brown belly patch and dark shoulder markings. It has a black cap, black bill, and a white "horseshoe" on the base of the tail. The stiff flight, like a large Manx shearwater, is also distinctive. The only other large shearwaters in its range are the Cory's Shearwater and the all-dark... Wikipedia →