Balearic Shearwater
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{{Taxobox | color = pink | name = Balearic Shearwater | status = Conservation status: Critical | regnum = Animalia | phylum = Chordata | classis = Aves | ordo = Procellariiformes | familia = Procellariidae | genus = Puffinus | species = P. mauretanicus | binomial = Puffinus mauretanicus | binomial_authority = Lowe, PR, 1921 }} The Balearic Shearwater (Puffinus mauretanicus) is a medium-sized shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae.
This species breeds on islands and coastal cliffs in the Balearic islands. Most winter in that sea, but some enter the Atlantic in late summer, reaching north to Great Britain and Ireland.
This species nests in burrows which are only visited at night to avoid predation by large gulls.
This bird is 35-40 cm long, with an 85-90 cm wingspan. It has the typically "shearing" flight of the genus, dipping from side to side on stiff wings with few wingbeats, the wingtips almost touching the water. This bird looks like a flying cross, with its wing held at right angles to the body, and it changes from dark brown to dirty white as the dark upperparts and paler undersides are alternately exposed as it travels low over the sea.
Apart from the less contrasted plumage, this species is very similar to the Atlantic Manx Shearwater and the Yelkouan Shearwater found elsewhere in the Mediterranean. The two Mediterranean forms were previously regarded as races of Manx Shearwater; they were split from Manx in the early 1990s as "Mediterranean Shearwater", and more recently, all three forms are regarded as separate species.
It is under some threat from the development of holiday resorts near its breeding sites, and also from animals such as cats and rats.
This is a gregarious species, which can been seen in large numbers from boats or headlands, especially on in autumn.
It is silent at sea, but at night the breeding colonies are alive with raucous cackling calls, higher pitched than Manx.
The Balearic Shearwater feeds on fish and molluscs. It does not follow boats.