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Christmas Shearwater | Puffinus nativitatis
Kleine wigstaartpijlstormvogel | Pardela de Navidad
The Christmas Shearwater is a medium-sized, entirely dark shearwater of the tropical Pacific that breeds on remote islands from Hawaii to Polynesia. Outside the breeding season some birds range far to the east. In the guide area the species is a rare visitor far off the Pacific coast, seen only on deep-water trips; much about its occurrence here remains unknown.
Voice
Silent at sea. At the breeding sites moaning and wailing calls.
Recording: Percy Ulsamer — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
35–38 cm, a fairly small, stocky, entirely dark shearwater with a short, rounded tail. The plumage is uniformly sooty brown with a warm brown tinge, hardly paler below; the underwing is also dark, without a pale band. The bill is thin and black, the legs dark brownish grey. Flies low over the water, with fairly quick beats and short glides.
Confusion species
Dark morph Wedge-tailed Shearwater Ardenna pacifica is larger, with a long, wedge-shaped tail, flesh-coloured legs and a slower, floating flight. Sooty Shearwater Ardenna grisea is larger and has a silvery band along the middle of the underwing. Black Petrel Procellaria parkinsoni is larger and heavier, with a pale bill with a dark tip.
Habitat
Warm, open ocean far offshore. Takes squid and fish at the surface or in short dives, often in mixed seabird flocks over schools of tuna. Breeds on bare or vegetated coral islands and atolls, on the ground under shrubs or among rocks.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
Far out at sea off the Pacific coast; records come mainly from the waters off southern and western Mexico, with scattered records further south, including off Guatemala. Because there are only few records and nearly all come from ships, its distribution in the guide area is poorly known. Outside the guide area the species breeds on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, the Line Islands, the Marshall Islands, the Tuamotu Archipelago and Sala y Gómez, among others, and ranges over large parts of the tropical Pacific.
- Summer visitor (c. Apr–Sep)
- Passage (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Multi-day pelagic trips to deep water off the west coast of Mexico offer the only real chance. Any small, entirely dark shearwater with a short tail and dark legs is worth checking for this species; good photographs are almost essential for a certain identification.
Conservation status
Not threatened. The world population is estimated at tens of thousands of birds, but the species is poorly known. Introduced rats and cats are a threat on a number of breeding islands; the species has disappeared from a few islands.
Scientific name
Puffinus nativitatis | Streets, 1877
Streets described the species in 1877 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Puffinus was introduced in 1760 by Brisson. Puffinus comes from English puffin and its variants, the name for the cured nestling of the shearwater, once a delicacy. nativitatis is Latin for 'of the Nativity', after Christmas Island (Kiritimati) in the Pacific, the type locality. The specimen the first description was based on came from Kiritimati (Christmas Island), Pacific Ocean.