Galapagos Shearwater (Puffinus subalaris)

Identification & Behavior: ~30 cm (12 in). The Galapagos Shearwater has gray-brown upperparts and white underparts. The undewing is white with gray-brown mottling. The undertail coverts and vent area are black. The bill is grayish. It forages in pelagic waters. It is similar to the Little Shearwater but is distinguished by having white underwing with gray-brown mottling and black undertail coverts and vent area.

Status: The Galapagos Shearwater is known in pelagic waters of north and central Peru on the basis of undocumented sight records. It also occurs in Co and Ec.

Name in Spanish: Pardela de las Galápagos.

Sub-species: Galapagos Shearwater (Puffinus subalaris), Ridgway, 1897.

Meaning of Name: Puffinus: English name Puffin (c. 1508), applied to the cured carcass of the nestling shearwater. subalalaris: L. sub= underneath and ala= armpit, wing. Subalaris= under the wings, under-wing.

See more of the Family Procellariidae