Calonectris diomedea
Scopoli's Shearwater (Calonectris diomedea) is a magnificent pelagic seabird, renowned for its graceful, long-winged flight across vast ocean expanses. A large shearwater, it measures 45-56 cm in length with an impressive wingspan of 110-125 cm, typically weighing between 700-1100 g. Its plumage is characterized by dark sooty-brown upperparts contrasting sharply with clean white underparts, a distinctive feature being the pale, yellowish-grey bill with a dark tip. In flight, a subtle white cr...
Primarily a pelagic species, inhabiting the open ocean throughout its non-breeding season. For breeding, it exclusively utilizes rocky islands, coastal cliffs, and islets, typically nesting in burrows or rock crevices, usually at low elevations.
Feeds primarily on small schooling fish such as sardines, anchovies, and mackerel, as well as cephalopods (squid) and occasionally crustaceans, caught through surface-seizing and plunge-diving.
Scopoli's Shearwater exhibits a fascinating dichotomy in its daily activity; it is strictly nocturnal at its breeding colonies to avoid predation from gulls and raptors, but actively forages diurnally at sea. Foraging strategies involve plunge-diving from considerable heights, surface-seizing, an...
Scopoli's Shearwater primarily breeds on islands and coastal cliffs throughout the Mediterranean Sea, with major colonies found in Italy (e.g., Linosa, Lampedusa, Sardinia), Greece (Aegean and Ionian islands), Spain (Balearic Islands, Chafarinas), France (Corsica), Malta, and Croatia. After the b...
Least Concern
- Scopoli's Shearwaters are true masters of the ocean, spending over 90% of their lives at sea, only coming ashore to breed. - They possess a specialized gland above their nasal passages that allows them to excrete excess salt, enabling them to drink seawater. - Breeding colonies can be enormous,...