Synonym:

Ardenna grisea

Recommended birdwatching sea trips to watch this seabird

Bird, dolphin & whale watching trip
Zino’s Petrel Pelagic Expedition

Sooty Shearwater Field ID Keys

Shape & Size

A relatively large shearwater with narrow pointed wings and bulky cylindrical body.

Colour Pattern

This is a sooty-brown bird with pale panel on underwings coverts

Behavior

In light wind it has a fast flight with quick wingbeats and short glides while in stronger winds it flies higher with steep wheeling.

Habitat

Wide ranging transequatorial migrant in Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Sooty shearwater is a pelagic bird but it is often seen from shore.

Distinction from similar species

In Northeast Atlantic might be confused with a dark morph of Balearic shearwater though Sooty has darker underparts while Puffinus mauretanicus has dirty white central part of its underparts.

Puffinus griseus Biometrics

Wingspan: 97 - 106 cm (Howell, 2012)
Total length: 43 - 45.5 cm (Howell, 2012)

Other Bird Facts

Seasonality in Madeira: Observed around Madeira between mid May and end of August
Breeding: Breeds off South America and SE Australia and New Zealand from mid November to late April.

Status

Madeira local status by Correia-Fagundes et al, 2021: Occasional
Madeira local status by Romano et al, 2010: Occasional vagrant bird
Conservation status by the IUCN Red List Categories, 2013: Near Threatened ver 3.1

Name of this species in other languages

Portuguese: Pardela preta, Bobo-escuro
German: Dunkler Sturmtaucher
Dutch: Grauwe Pijlstormvogel
Swedish: Grå lira
Danish: Sodfarvet Skråpe
Finish: Nokiliitäjä
Norwegian: Grålire
Spanish: Pardela Sombría
French: Puffin fuligineux
Italian: Berta grigia
Polish: Burzyk szary
Slovak: Víchrovník tmavý
Czech: Buřňák temný