Cory's shearwater

Cory's shearwater

Cory's shearwater from below
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)^[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Procellariiformes
Family:	Procellariidae
Genus:	Calonectris
Species:	C. borealis
Binomial name
*Calonectris borealis* (Cory, 1881)

The Cory's shearwater (Calonectris borealis) is a large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. This bird is named after the American ornithologist Charles B. Cory.

Ecology

This species breeds on Madeira, the Azores and the Berlengas Archipelago in Portugal and the Canary Islands in Spain. They nest on open ground or among rocks or less often in a burrow where one white egg is laid. The burrow is visited at night to minimise predation from large gulls. In late summer and autumn, most birds migrate into the Atlantic as far north as the south-western coasts of Great Britain and Ireland. They return to the Mediterranean in February. The biggest colony is located in Savage Islands, Madeira.

This bird flies with long glides, and always with wings bowed and angled slightly back, unlike the stiff, straight-winged flight of the similarly sized great shearwater.

Cory's shearwater feeds on fish, molluscs and offal, and can dive deep (50 ft (15 m) or more) in search of prey. It readily follows fishing boats, where it indulges in noisy squabbles. This is a gregarious species, which can be seen in large numbers from ships or appropriate headlands. The Bay of Biscay ferries are particularly good for this species. It is silent at sea, but at night the breeding colonies are alive with raucous cackling calls.

Description

This shearwater is identifiable by its size, at 45–56 cm (18–22 in) in length and with a 112–126 cm (44–50 in) wingspan. It has brownish-grey upperparts, white underparts and a yellowish bill. It lacks the brown belly patch, dark shoulder markings and black cap of the great shearwater.

Taxonomy

Once considered two subspecies, (the Mediterranean C. d. diomedea, and the Atlantic C. d. borealis), Scopoli's shearwater and Cory's shearwater are now split into two distinct species. They are similar in appearance, although the Atlantic race is larger with a stouter bill. They are best distinguished by the pattern of the underwing.

The Cape Verde shearwater C. edwardsii (Oustalet, 1883) was once considered a subspecies of Cory's shearwater but has recently been split off as a separate species (Snow, Perrins & Gillmor 1998). It is endemic to the Cape Verde Islands. It has an all dark, slim bill, and darker head and upperparts than Cory's. The flight has been described as rather more typically shearwater-like than the Cory's, with stiffer and more rapid wing beats.

Gallery

Top view
A group 200 nm east of Madeira
Nest site on Selvagem Pequena Island

Notes

↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Calonectris borealis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.

References

Bull, John L.; Farrand, John Jr.; Rayfield, Susan (1977). The Audubon Society field guide to North American birds, Eastern Region. National Audubon Society. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-41405-5.
Harrison, Peter (1983). Seabirds: An Identification Guide. Beckenham: Croom Helm. ISBN 0-7099-1207-2.
Heidrich, Petra; Amengual, José F.; Wink, Michael (1998). "Phylogenetic relationships in Mediterranean and North Atlantic shearwaters (Aves: Procellariidae) based on nucleotide sequences of mtDNA" (PDF). Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 26 (2): 145–170. doi:10.1016/S0305-1978(97)00085-9.
Snow, David W.; Perrins, Christopher M.; Gillmor, Robert (1998). The Birds of the Western Palearctic. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-850187-0.