Puffinus gavia
The Fluttering Shearwater (Puffinus gavia) is a captivating medium-sized seabird, endemic to the coastal waters of New Zealand. Averaging 30-36 cm in length with a wingspan of 68-76 cm and weighing around 300-420g, it exhibits a classic shearwater profile: dark sooty-brown upperparts contrasting sharply with clean white underparts, featuring distinctive dark "armpits" visible in flight. Its slender, dark bill, hooked at the tip, is perfectly adapted for capturing marine prey. Often confused w...
Primarily pelagic, inhabiting coastal and offshore waters of continental shelves. It breeds colonially in burrows or rock crevices on small, predator-free islands.
Feeds primarily on small schooling fish (e.g., anchovies, sprats), cephalopods (squid), and occasionally crustaceans, caught by surface-seizing and shallow pursuit-diving.
Fluttering Shearwaters are predominantly diurnal at sea, often forming large, dynamic flocks, sometimes numbering in the thousands, which rest on the water's surface in "rafts." At their breeding colonies, however, they are strictly nocturnal, arriving and departing under the cover of darkness to...
The Fluttering Shearwater is largely confined to the waters surrounding New Zealand, where it is an endemic breeder. Its primary breeding colonies are found on small, predator-free islands off the North and South Islands of New Zealand, including Stewart Island and the Foveaux Strait. During the ...
Least Concern
- The Fluttering Shearwater gets its name from its distinctive flight pattern, characterized by rapid, shallow wing beats interspersed with short glides, a stark contrast to the more rigid-winged gliding of many other shearwater species. - It is one of New Zealand's few endemic seabirds, breeding...