Procellariidae

Sooty Shearwater

Dunkelsturmtaucher

Ardenna grisea

Procellariidae3 photosFirst seen: 23 August 2026

The Sooty Shearwater is a long-distance ocean traveller that breeds in the Southern Hemisphere and crosses entire ocean basins on migration. It alternates stiff-winged glides close to the waves with quick wingbeats and can dive deeply after fish and squid. Large movements pass the North Pacific during the northern summer before the birds return south to breed.

ID tip: A uniformly dark shearwater with long narrow wings and a silvery flash on the underwing. Its powerful, direct flight is heavier than that of smaller storm-petrels.

First seen: 23 August 2026 · Kenai Fjords · 3 photos in the collection.

Places in my records

Locations where this species is supported by a dated first record, an unambiguous single-place outing or a reviewed assignment.

Kenai Fjords23 August 2026

Family: Procellariidae (Procellariidae)
Length: 40–51 cm
Wingspan: 94–109 cm
Regional status: Passage migrant (Alaska, USA)
Conservation: Near Threatened NTIUCN Red List · retrieved 27 August 2026
Habitat: Open ocean, continental shelf edges and productive upwelling zones
Diet: Fish, squid, krill and other marine invertebrates

Built from verified occurrence records, not drawn by hand. Core range = the countries holding 99% of all records; the rest are scattered or vagrant records. Record counts track where people watch birds as much as where the birds are, so the map shows presence, not abundance. Data: GBIF (CC BY 4.0). Basemap: Natural Earth.

Sooty Shearwater

Places in my records

Selected photographs