Ardenna carneipes
The Flesh-footed Shearwater (Ardenna carneipes) is a robust, dark-plumaged seabird belonging to the family Procellariidae, a group renowned for their long-distance oceanic migrations. This striking species measures approximately 41-46 cm (16-18 in) in length with a formidable wingspan of 100-109 cm (39-43 in) and weighs between 500-750 grams (1.1-1.6 lbs). Its most distinctive field marks are its entirely sooty-brown to black plumage, contrasting sharply with its pale, fleshy-pink bill with a...
This is an intensely pelagic seabird, spending most of its life far offshore in temperate and tropical oceans. It only comes ashore to breed on remote, predator-free offshore islands and coastal headlands.
Their diet primarily consists of small schooling fish, cephalopods (squid), and crustaceans, which they catch by surface seizing, plunge-diving, and pursuit-diving in open ocean waters.
Flesh-footed Shearwaters are primarily diurnal at sea, often gathering in large rafts on the water's surface before foraging. At their breeding colonies, however, they are strictly nocturnal, arriving and departing under the cover of darkness to avoid aerial predators like gulls and skuas. Their ...
The Flesh-footed Shearwater has a broad trans-equatorial range, breeding primarily on islands off Australia and New Zealand, with major colonies found on Lord Howe Island and off the southwestern coast of Western Australia. Following the breeding season, adults and juveniles undertake an extraord...
Near Threatened
- The Flesh-footed Shearwater undertakes one of the longest annual migrations of any bird, traveling from its breeding grounds in the southern hemisphere to feeding grounds in the North Pacific and back, covering distances of tens of thousands of kilometers. - They are known to be deep divers amo...