Ardenna gravis
The Great Shearwater (*Ardenna gravis*) is a robust seabird known for its striking plumage and epic trans-equatorial migration. Measuring 40-51 cm in length with a wingspan of 100-118 cm and weighing 700-900 g, it features dark brown-grey upperparts contrasting sharply with clean white underparts. Key identification marks include a distinct dark cap that creates a sharp boundary with a white collar, a noticeable dark primary patch on the underwing, and often a smudgy dark belly patch. Its fli...
This is a truly pelagic species, inhabiting the open ocean and continental shelf waters for most of the year. It only comes ashore to remote, offshore islands in the South Atlantic for breeding.
Their diet primarily consists of small fish (e.g., mackerel, squid, anchovies, herring), krill, and other crustaceans. They forage primarily through surface-seizing and pursuit diving.
Great Shearwaters are primarily diurnal for foraging, highly active over the open ocean, though at breeding colonies, they are largely nocturnal to evade predators. Their foraging strategy involves surface-seizing, plunge-diving, and shallow pursuit dives, sometimes reaching depths of up to 15 me...
The Great Shearwater's breeding range is incredibly restricted, confined to a few remote islands in the South Atlantic: the Tristan da Cunha archipelago (Gough, Inaccessible, and Tristan islands) and Beauchene Island in the Falkland Islands. After breeding, they undertake a monumental trans-equat...
Least Concern
- The Great Shearwater undertakes one of the longest migratory journeys of any bird, traveling in a massive figure-eight loop across the Atlantic Ocean. - Despite their name, they are capable of surprisingly deep dives for a shearwater, sometimes plunging up to 15 meters underwater for food. - Th...