Puffinus yelkouan
The Mediterranean Shearwater (Puffinus yelkouan), often referred to as the Yelkouan Shearwater, is a medium-sized seabird endemic to the Mediterranean Sea. Measuring 30-38 cm in length with a wingspan of 70-80 cm and weighing 350-500 grams, it exhibits a classic shearwater appearance: dark sooty-brown or black upperparts contrasting sharply with clean white underparts. A key field mark distinguishing it from closely related species is the dark undertail coverts, which create a 'dipped in ink'...
Primarily a pelagic species, the Mediterranean Shearwater spends most of its life over the open sea, coming to land only to breed on remote, rocky islands, cliff faces, and coastal islets, nesting in burrows or rock crevices from sea level up to cliff tops.
The diet of the Mediterranean Shearwater primarily consists of small pelagic fish, such as sardines and anchovies, along with cephalopods (squid) and, less frequently, crustaceans, all captured by surface-seizing or pursuit-diving.
Mediterranean Shearwaters are highly social birds, forming large rafts on the water and breeding in dense, often subterranean colonies on remote islands. At sea, they are primarily diurnal, foraging actively during the day, but at their breeding colonies, they exhibit strong nocturnal activity, a...
The Mediterranean Shearwater is endemic to the Mediterranean Sea, where it breeds on numerous islands and coastal cliffs across the basin. Major breeding colonies are found in the Balearic Islands, Corsica, Sardinia, Malta, Greece (especially in the Aegean Sea), Turkey, and along some North Afric...
Near Threatened
- The Mediterranean Shearwater is one of only a few seabird species whose entire global population is confined within the Mediterranean Sea. - Like other 'tubenoses,' they have distinctive tube-like nostrils which allow them to excrete excess salt ingested with their marine diet. - They are noctu...