Very similar in appearence (at sea) to Sooty Shearwater but smaller and more
compact with shorter wings. Dispersal is very different, Short-tailed favouring colder waters and thus forming huge flocks in
the Bering Sea, also approaches Antarctic pack-ice more closely. Breeding is confined to South and East Australia and Tasmania,
but Atlantic records are increasing. Such is their abundance that they were offered on menus in Stewart Island hotels, keeping
up a Maori tradition of taking "mutton-birds". This is strictly controlled and only a certain number of Maoris with permits are
allowed to take birds for two months of the year, after young have fledged.
Click on the photo to return to "petrels" or here for
HOMEPAGE
