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The shearwater profile covers short-tailed shearwaters (Ardenna tenuirostris) and sooty shearwaters (Ardenna griseus). These two species breed on southern hemisphere continents and forage in the Southern Ocean during the Austral summer before migrating to the northern hemisphere for the boreal summer.
Image: Short-tailed shearwater flying, www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz
Image: Sooty shearwater on nest, Marcus Salton |
Summary role in ecosystem
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Parameters | Short-tailed | Sooty |
|---|---|---|
Maximum age | Max age of short-tailed shearwaters is 38 years old, with the average age being 15 – 19 years old (Marshall and Serventy 1956). | Max age of sooty shearwaters is 30 years old with the average age around 17-20 years old (Warham et al. 1982). |
Average adult size | ||
Age at maturity | Short-tailed shearwaters reach maturity at 4-15 years of age, mean age for males = 7.3 years, mean age for females = 7.0 years (Skira 1991). | Sooty shearwaters reach maturity at a mean age of 6 years old (Richdale 1963). |
Size at maturity | At age Short-tailed shearwaters weigh between 450 – 700 grams, have a total length of 43cm and wing span of one metre (Marshall and Serventy 1956). | At age sooty shearwaters weigh around 650 - 850 grams, reach a length 45- 50cm and have a wing span about one metre (Warham et al. 1982). |
Spawning/breeding area | Burrows are located on headlands or islands (Skira et al. 1996). | Burrows are located on headlands or islands (Warham et al. 1982). |
Spawning/breeding season | Mating occurs in late October. Which is then followed by a 2 week exodus by the birds to put on weight for the egg laying period (Skira 1991). | Mating occurs in late October (Richdale 1963). |
Larval/gestation period | Eggs laid from November 19 – December 2. The single egg is incubated for 52 – 55 days (Serventy 1963). Both parents incubate the egg for 10-16 days with males usually taking the first shift(Skira 1991). The majority of chicks hatch on 10th – 23rd of January (Oka et al. 1987). | Eggs are laid between November 16 and December 2 with the majority of eggs laid from November 20 - 24. The single egg is incubated for 53 days. Both parents incubate the egg for about 10 days with males usually taking the first shift. The majority of chicks hatch on 11th – 16th of January (Richdale 1963). |
Location of recruits | Recruits are based at the colony until fledging. Chicks begin to fledge about 4 months after hatching (Skira 1991). | Based at the colony until fledging. Chicks fledge after 86 - 106 days after birth (Richdale 1963). |
Size of recruits | Chicks (88 – 108 days old) attain a maximum mean weight of 800g nearly double that of adults (Skira 1991). This weight is then lost when chicks begin to fly. | Chicks (88 – 108 days old) attain a mean weight of 746g with a range of 570g – 922g (Warham et al. 1982) |
| Overall natural mortality rate | ||
Non-predation natural mortality rates | Natural mortality generally occurs during the first migration due to starvation and exhaustion. The mortality rate of first year short-tailed shearwaters is 52% (Skira 1991). | Highest mortality rates in sooty shearwaters occurs in the first year of migration (Warham et al. 1982). |
Short-tailed Shearwater:
Each year millions of short-tailed shearwaters migrate from their breeding grounds in south eastern Australia to the North Pacific feeding grounds in the austral winter. There has been no direct migration pattern described for the short-tailed shearwater. However is has been acknowledged that the short-tailed shearwater flies about 15,000 kilometres annually in each direction (Serventy 1963). Short-tailed shearwaters have been known to fly this distance in 6 weeks (Serventy 1963).
Whilst feeding short-tailed shearwaters form large aggregations on the surface of the water known as ‘rafts’. These rafts are most commonly found in calm weather and usually occur when feeding or resting (Skira 1991). Short-tailed shearwaters have been found as deep 20m in the water column chasing prey (Weimerskirch & Sagar 1996). The most common foraging techniques used by short-tailed shearwaters are pursuit plunging, surface seizing, pursuit diving, scavenging and bottom feeding (Skira 1991).
Parental short-tailed shearwaters use a 2 fold foraging strategy to feed their chicks (Weimerskirch & Cherel 1998). Parents on average preform 2 successive 1 – 2 day short trips to gather food followed by a long trip (9 – 17 days). Decisions whether to forage in close or distant waters is dependent on the body condition of the parent. Birds with poor body condition are likely to go on long trips to rich areas of food (e.g. Polar Frontal Zone) whereas those in good condition continue to forage in waters close to their breeding colonies (Weimerskirch & Cherel 1998).
In the southern hemisphere the main prey items are the krill Nyctiphanes australis, arrow squid Notodarus sloani gouldi, other squid, fish and crustaceans (Montague et al. 1986; Skira 1986). However the diet of short-tailed shearwaters changes from a krill dominated diet to a mixture of fish, squid and crustaceans once the eggs hatch in January (Montague et al. 1986). During the non-breeding period in the northern hemisphere crustaceans (euphausiids and amphipods) fish and occasionally cephalopod make up the diet of short-tailed shearwater (Shaffer et al. 2006).
On their long trips south, South Australian short-tailed shearwaters mainly forage from 110˚E - 150˚E at the Polar Front with the highest concentrations of birds being at 140˚E. These South Australian birds also forage south of the Polar Front with a distribution as far as 55˚E being recorded in waters at the southern boundary of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current 64˚S (Raymond et al. 2010). Tasmanian short-tailed shearwaters consistently forage at the Polar Front at 165˚E and then forage in an east to west direction and returning to their colonies in and north east direction (Raymond et al. 2010).
Sooty Shearwaters mainly use surface diving as their foraging technique but they also regularly plunge dive (Brown et al. 1981). Sooty shearwaters are able to compress their tarsus and narrow their pelvis which are favourable features for diving (Weimerskirch & Sagar 1996). Sooty shearwaters have been recorded to dive to depths up to 60m (Weimerskirch & Sager 1996). With a swimming speed of 2m per second (Swennen & Duiven 1991) shearwaters may remain submerged for up to a minute. Shearwaters dive down in a zigzag pattern to reduce buoyancy (Weimerskirch &Sagar 1996). Reaching greater depths (as sooty shearwaters do) reduces the cost of diving (Weimerskirch & Sagar 1996).
The sooty shearwater has a highly variable diet. Whilst in the northern hemisphere the sooty shearwater diet consists of anchovies Engraulis species, juvenile rockfish Sebastes species, market squid Loligo opalescens and small fishes such as capelinMollotus villosus and sandlance Ammodytidae (Brown et al 1981; Chu 1984; Shiomi & Ogi 1992).
In the southern hemisphere the diet of sooty shearwaters is highly dominated by crustacean. The main prey species of the sooty shearwater in the southern hemisphere are the euphausiids Euphausia and Nyctiphanes, the amphipods Hyperia andParathemisto, the salp Pyrosoma and the fishes Maurolicus and Sprattus (Raymond et al. 2010). Sooty shearwaters from New Zealand travel to two main foraging locations (160˚E and 140˚E) at the Polar Frontal Zone (Raymond et al. 2010).
Parameters | Short-tailed | Sooty |
|---|---|---|
| Ingestion rate | Insert values and short citations here | |
| Metabolism | ||
Fecundity | One egg is laid and no relaying occurs if egg is lost (Skira 1991). | One egg is laid and no relaying occurs if egg is lost (Richdale 1963). |
Length-weight relationships | ||
Growth rate | ||
Size at age | At age Short-tailed shearwaters weigh between 450 – 700 grams, have a total length of 43cm and wing span of one metre (Marshall and Serventy 1956). | At age sooty shearwaters weigh around 650 - 850 grams, reach a length 45- 50cm and have a wing span about one metre (Warham et al. 1982). |
| Population Productivity (average life time) |
Short-tailed shearwaters are usually found on headlands and small islands during the breeding season. Headlands allow for easy take-off and landing for these birds (Serventy 1953). Their burrows are found far from land foraging. Suitable soil for burrows or rock crevices are required for suitable nests (Warham et al. 1982).
Sooty shearwater colonies are found on headlands and small offshore islands. However in the non-breeding season sooty shearwaters are found far from land. Suitable soil for burrows or rock crevices are required for suitable nests (Warham et al. 1982).
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Short-tailed and sooty shearwater represent two of the most abundant species of shearwaters globally.
Estimated global population >23 million individuals (Brooke, 2004).
Global population estimated at 4.4 million pairs, roughly equating to 19.0-23.6 million individuals (Newman et al. 2009, Waugh et al. 2013).
The short-tailed shearwater is a migratory species that moves between breeding colonies in south-eastern Australia and foraging grounds in the North Pacific Ocean. Main breeding grounds are found in South Australia, eastern New South Wales and eastern Tasmania. Short tailed Shearwaters can be found as southward as the Antarctic continent foraging in the Austral summer (Weimerskirch & Cherel 1998).
It has been estimated that there are twenty three million short-tailed shearwaters globally, making them a highly important part of the Southern Ocean ecosystem (Weimerskirch & Cherel 1998). Short-tailed shearwater breed in about 285 colonies in south-eastern Australia (Skira 1991). Approximately eighteen million of these seabirds arrive in Tasmanian each year where there are 167 known colonies with an estimated eleven million burrows (Skira 1991).
Sooty shearwater:
The sooty shearwater is also a migratory species that breeds in the southern hemisphere, predominately on the coast of New Zealand with colonies also in Southern Australia, Tierra del Fuego, Chile and the Falkland Islands during the austral summer (Briggs & Chu 1986). As the austral winter approaches the sooty shearwaters migrate to the northern hemisphere feeding grounds where they can be found as far as Greenland in the Atlantic Ocean and Alaska in the Pacific Ocean (Phillips 1963).
It has been well documented that there is an increasing decline in sooty shearwater numbers (Jones 2000; Scofield & Christie 2002; Scott et al. 2008). While the decline has yet to be quantified it is likely the decline will have significant impacts on marine ecosystems. The decline of this seabird species has be attributed by fisheries, seabird by-catch, global warming and introduced species on islands.
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Sooty shearwater:
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Add the following table or simply say 'None of these species has been assessed for the Red List'
| Species: | Short-tailed shearwater | Sooty shearwater |
|---|---|---|
| Year of classification: | 2018 | 2018 |
| Red List Category & Criteria: | Least concern | Near threatened |
| Trend: | This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is extremely large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern. | This species is classified as Near Threatened because it is thought to have undergone a moderately rapid decline owing to the impact of fisheries, the harvesting of its young and possibly climate change. |
| Assessment Justification: | BirdLife International 2018. Ardenna tenuirostris. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T22698216A132635686. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22698216A132635686.en. Downloaded on 17 May 2019. | BirdLife International 2018. Ardenna grisea. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T22698209A132634513. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22698209A132634513.en. Downloaded on 17 May 2019. |
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A list of references referred to on this page.
Please use Ecology style, for more information and examples see:
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/journal/13652745/author-guidelines
Briggs, K.T. & Chu, E.W. (1986) Sooty shearwaters off California: distribution, abundance and habitat use. The Condor, 88, 355-364.
Brown, R., Barker, S.P., Gaskin, D. & Sandeman, M.R. (1981) The foods of great and sooty shearwaters Puffinus gravis and P. griseus in eastern Canadian waters.Ibis, 123, 19-30.
Brooke, M. de. L. (2004). Albatrosses and Petrels Across the World. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Carey, M.J. (2011). Intergenerational transfer of plastic debris by Short-tailed Shearwaters (Ardenna tenuirostris). Emu-Austral Ornithology, 111, 229-234. Doi: 10.1071/MU10085
Chu, E. (1984) Sooty shearwaters off California: Diet and energy gain.
Clucas, R. (2011). Long‐term population trends of Sooty Shearwater (Puffinus griseus) revealed by hunt success. Ecological Applications, 21, 1308-1326. Doi: 10.1890/09-0813.1
DeGrange, A.R. & Day, R.H. (1991). Mortality of seabirds in the Japanese land-based gillnet fishery for salmon. The Condor 93, 251-258. Doi: 10.2307/1368940
Hedd, A., Montevecchi, W.A., Otley, H., Phillips, R.A. & Fifield, D.A. (2012) Trans-equatorial migration and habitat use by sooty shearwaters Puffinus griseus from the South Atlantic during the nonbreeding season. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 449, 277-290. Doi: 10.3354/meps09538
Waugh, S.M., Tennyson, A.J., Taylor, G.A. & Wilson, K.J. (2013). Population sizes of shearwaters (Puffinus spp.) breeding in New Zealand, with recommendations for monitoring. Tuhinga, 24, 159-204.
Jones, C. (2000). Sooty shearwater (Puffinus griseus) breeding colonies on mainland South Island, New Zealand: evidence of decline and predictors of persistence. New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 27, 327-334. Doi: 10.1080/03014223.2000.9518242
Marshall, A.J. & Serventy, D.L. (1956) The breeding cycle of the short-tailed shearwater, Puffinus tenuirostris, in relation to trans-equatorial migration and it’s environment. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 489-510.
Montague, T., Cullen, J. & Fitzherbert, K. (1986) The diet of the short-tailed shearwater Puffinus tenuirostris during its breeding season. Emu, 86, 207-213.
Newman, J., Scott, D., Bragg, C., McKechnie, S., Moller, H. & Fletcher, D. (2009). Estimating regional population size and annual harvest intensity of the sooty shearwater in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 36, 307-323. Doi: 10.1080/03014220909510157
Oka, N., Maruyama, N. & Skira, I. (1987) Chick growth and mortality of short-tailed shearwaters in comparison with sooty shearwaters, as a possible index of fluctuations of Australian krill abundance. Proceedings of the National Institute of Polar Research Symposium on Polar Biology, 1, 166-174.
Penhallurick, J. & Wink, M. (2004). Analysis of the taxonomy and nomenclature of the Procellariiformes based on complete nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. Emu, 104, 125-147. Doi: 10.1071/MU01060
Peter, J. & Dooley, S. (2014). The fatal shore. Australian Birdlife, 3, 24-27.
Phillips, J. (1963). The pelagic distribution of the sooty shearwater Procellaria grisea. Ibis, 105, 340-353.
Raymond, B., Shaffer, S.A., Sokolov, S., Woehler, E.J., Costa, D.P., Einoder, L., ... Sagar, P.M. (2010). Shearwater foraging in the Southern Ocean: the roles of prey availability and winds. PLoS One, 5, e10960. Doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0010960
Richdale, L.E. (1963). Biology of the sooty shearwater Puffinus griseus. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1-117.
Scofield, R.P. & Christie, D. (2002). Beach patrol records indicate a substantial decline in sooty shearwater (Puffinus griseus) numbers. Notornis, 49, 158-165.
Scott, D., Scofield, P., Hunter, C. & Fletcher, D. (2008). Decline of Sooty Shearwaters, Puffinus griseus, on The Snares, New Zealand. Papers and Proceedings of the royal Society of Tasmania, 142, 185-196. Doi: 10.26749/rstpp.142.1.185
Serventy, D.L. (1953). Movements of pelagic sea-birds in the Indo-Pacific region. Seventh Pacific Science Congress of the Pacific Science Association: 394-406.
Serventy, D.L. (1963). Egg-laying timetable of the Slender-billed Shearwater, Puffinus tenuirostris. Proceedings of the 13th International Ornithological Congress, 338 – 343.
Shaffer, S.A., Tremblay, Y., Weimerskirch, H., Scott, D., Thompson, D.R., Sagar, P.M., ... Block, B.A. (2006). Migratory shearwaters integrate oceanic resources across the Pacific Ocean in an endless summer. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 103, 12799-12802. Doi: 10.1073/pnas.0603715103
Shiomi, K. & Ogi, H. (1992). Feeding ecology and body size dependence on diet of the sooty shearwater, Puffinus griseus, in the North Pacific. Proceedings of the National Institute of Polar Research Symposium on Polar Biology, 5, 105-113.
Skira, I. (1986). Food of the Short-Tailed Shearwater, Puffinus-Tenuirostris, in Tasmania. Wildlife Research, 13, 481-488.
Skira, I. (1991). The short-tailed shearwater: a review of its biology. Corella, 15, 45-52.
Swennen, C. & Duiven, P. (1991). Diving speed and food-size selection in common guillemots Uria aalgae. Netherlands Journal of Sea Research, 27, 191-196.
Toge, K., Yamashita, R., Kazama, K., Fukuwaka, M., Yamamura, O. & Watanuki, Y. (2011). The relationship between pink salmon biomass and the body condition of short-tailed shearwaters in the Bering Sea: can fish compete with seabirds? Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 278, 2584-2590. Doi: 10.1098/rspb.2010.2345
Uhlmann, S. (2003). Fisheries bycatch mortalities of sooty shearwaters (Puffinus griseus) and short-tailed shearwaters (P. tenuirostris) (p. 52). Wellington, New Zealand: Department of Conservation.
Warham, J., Wilson, G. & Keeley, B. (1982). The annual cycle of the sooty shearwater Puffinus griseus at the Snares Islands, New Zealand. Notornis, 29, 269-292.
Waugh, S.M., Tennyson, A.J., Taylor, G.A. & Wilson, K.J. (2013). Population sizes of shearwaters (Puffinus spp.) breeding in New Zealand, with recommendations for monitoring. Tuhinga, 24, 159-204.
Weimerskirch, H. & Cherel, Y. (1998). Feeding ecology of short-tailed shearwaters: breeding in Tasmania and foraging in the Antarctic? Marine Ecology Progress Series, 167, 261-274. Doi: 10.3354/meps167261
Weimerskirch, H. & Sagar, P. (1996). Diving depths of sooty shearwaters Puffinus griseus. Ibis, 138, 786-788. Doi: 10.1111/j.1474-919X.1996.tb08837.x
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Ben Morrisby | |
| Jess-Melbourne Thomas | AAD |
| Madeleine Brasier | IMAS/ACE CRC |
Version number | Date of creation * | Expert reviewers | Peer reviewers | Date of completion* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 2019.05.06 | |||
* Date format is YYYY.MM.DD
