Pink-footed shearwater

Pink-footed shearwater
File:Shearwater pink-footed ventral fall monterey calif 2a.jpg
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Procellariiformes
Family:	Procellariidae
Genus:	Puffinus
Species:	P. creatopus
Binomial name
Puffinus creatopus Coues, 1864

The pink-footed shearwater (Puffinus creatopus) is a species of seabird. The bird is 48 cm in size, with a 109 cm wingspan. It is polymorphic, having both darker and lighter phase populations. Together with the equally light-billed flesh-footed shearwater, it forms the Hemipuffinus group, a superspecies which may or may not have an Atlantic relative in the great shearwater (Austin, 1996; Austin et al., 2004). These are large shearwaters which are among those that could be separated in the genus Ardenna (Penhallurick & Wink, 2004).

This species is pelagic, occurring in the Pacific Ocean. It predominantly nests on offshore islands off Chile, i.e. Mocha Island. It is a transequatorial migrant, moving toward subarctic waters of the Pacific after raising its young. It is fairly common well off the west coast of the United States during the country's warmer months.

The pink-footed shearwater feeds on mainly fish, squid and crustaceans.

This bird nests in burrows, preferring forested slopes. It is a colonial nester.

Numbers of this shearwater have been reduced due to predation by introduced species, such as rats and cats. Some loss of birds also occurs from becoming entangled in fishing gear.

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
• Carboneras, Carles (1992): 54. Pink-footed Shearwater. In: del Hoyo, Josep; Elliott, Andrew & Sargatal, Jordi (editors): Handbook of Birds of the World, Volume 1: Ostrich to Ducks: 253, Plate 16. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. ISBN 84-87334-10-5
• Harrison, Peter (1991): Seabirds: An Identification Guide. Houghton Mifflin.
• National Geographic Society (2002): Field Guide to the Birds of North America. National Geographic, Washington DC. ISBN 0-7922-6877-6
• 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)

External links

• Pink-footed shearwater photos
• BirdLife species factsheet