Little Shearwater

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iLittle Shearwater
Conservation status
Least Concern (LC)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Procellariiformes Family: Procellariidae Genus: Puffinus Species: P. assimilis
Binomial name
Puffinus assimilis Gould, 1838
Subspecies
P. a. assimilis (Gould, 1838) Tasman Sea Little Shearwater P. a. elegans Giglioli & Salvadori, 1869 South Atlantic Little Shearwater P. a. tunneyi Mathews, 1912 Western Australia Little Shearwater P. a. kermadecensis Murphy, 1927 Kermadec Little Shearwater P. a. haurakiensis J. H. Fleming & Serventy, 1943 New Zealand Little Shearwater

The Little Shearwater (Puffinus assimilis), sometimes called Southern Little Shearwater to distinguish it from the North Atlantic Little Shearwater which was formerly included in this species, is a small shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae.

It nowadays contains 5 accepted subspecies, with mtDNA cytochrome b sequence data indicating that the North Atlantic Little Shearwater (boydi and baroli) is closer to Audubon's Shearwater (Austin 1996, Heidrich et al. 1998), and myrtae being closer to the Hawaiian and possibly Townsend's Shearwater (Austin et al. 2004). Heinroth's Shearwater was also sometimes considered a subspecies of this bird; the relationship between the Little and Audubon's Shearwater is probably not as close as long believed (Austin 1996, Heidrich et al. 1998, Austin et al. 2001, but see also Penhallurick & Wink 2004, and Rheindt & Austin 2005).

This species occurs throughout the oceans of the Southern Hemisphere south of the Tropic of Capricorn.

It breeds in colonies on islands and coastal cliffs, nesting in burrows which are only visited at night to avoid predation by large gulls.

This bird has the typically "shearing" flight of the genus, dipping from side to side on stiff wings with few wingbeats, the wingtips almost touching the water, but in light winds has a more flapping flight than its larger relatives. This bird looks like a flying cross, with its wings held at right angles to the body, and it changes from black to white as the black upperparts and white undersides are alternately exposed as it travels low over the sea.

This is a gregarious species, which can been seen in large numbers from boats or headlands, especially on passage in autumn.

At 25-30 cm in length with a 58-67 cm wingspan, it is like a small Manx Shearwater but has proportionally shorter and broader wings, with a pale area on the inner flight feathers. Its bill is more slender than that of Manx, and its dark eye stands out against the surrounding white area.

It feeds on fish and molluscs. It does not follow boats. It is silent at sea, but at night the breeding colonies are alive with raucous cackling calls.

Despite the scientific name, this species is completely unrelated to the puffins, which are auks, the only resemblance being that they are both burrow-nesting seabirds.

[edit] References

• Austin, Jeremy J. (1996): Molecular Phylogenetics of Puffinus Shearwaters: Preliminary Evidence from Mitochondrial Cytochrome b Gene Sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 6(1): 77–88. DOI:10.1006/mpev.1996.0060 (HTML abstract)

• Austin, Jeremy J.; Bretagnolle, Vincent & Pasquet, Eric (2004): A global molecular phylogeny of the small Puffinus shearwaters and implications for systematics of the Little-Audubon's Shearwater complex. Auk 121(3): 847–864. DOI: 10.1642/0004-8038(2004)121[0847:AGMPOT]2.0.CO;2 HTML abstract

• BirdLife International (2004). Puffinus assimilis. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern

• Collinson, M. (2006): Splitting headaches? Recent taxonomic changes affecting the British and Western Palaearctic lists. British Birds 99(6): 306-323.

• Heidrich, Petra; Amengual, José F. & Wink, Michael (1998): Phylogenetic relationships in Mediterranean and North Atlantic shearwaters (Aves: Procellariidae) based on nucleotide sequences of mtDNA. Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 26(2): 145–170. DOI:10.1016/S0305-1978(97)00085-9 PDF fulltext

• Penhallurick, John & Wink, Michael (2004): Analysis of the taxonomy and nomenclature of the Procellariformes based on complete nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. Emu 104(2): 125-147. DOI:10.1071/MU01060 (HTML abstract)

• Rheindt, F. E. & Austin, Jeremy J. (2005): Major analytical and conceptual shortcomings in a recent taxonomic revision of the Procellariiformes - A reply to Penhallurick and Wink (2004). Emu 105(2): 181-186. DOI:10.1071/MU04039 PDF fulltext