Known as Audubon’s shearwater until a recent name change, this bird is the pocket-sized rebel of its family. While most of its relatives are massive, heavy-bodied ocean gliders, the Sargasso is delightfully compact—about the size of a standard crow. It sports a sleek, dual-toned outfit featuring a deep, dusky chocolate-brown “cape” across its back, contrasted with a crisp white belly. What truly makes it distinct from other similar seabirds is its noticeably longer, wedge-shaped tail and a face where the white plumage climbs up higher around its eyes, giving it a bright, alert expression.
What sets this bird apart from its cold-water-loving cousins is its absolute devotion to the tropics, spending its life navigating the warm currents of the western Atlantic and the weed lines of the Sargasso Sea. At dinner time, it displays a fascinating feeding technique called “pattering.” It will hover just above the ocean surface and rapidly pedal its webbed feet against the water while flapping its wings, making it look exactly like it is running or dancing on water to snatch up surface-dwelling squid. If the food dips deeper, the shearwater doesn’t hesitate; it will plunge right into the waves and use its powerful wings to literally “fly” underwater, diving down to impressive depths to chase its prey like a miniature, feathered submarine.
The Sargasso shearwater is a member of the “tubenose” family, meaning it has prominent, tube-like nostrils sitting right on top of its bill. These tubes house a hyper-sensitive sense of smell that allows the bird to track down pockets of food across thousands of miles of otherwise featureless open ocean. However, while they are flawless athletes in the air and water, land is an entirely different story. Because their legs are positioned far back on their bodies to act as efficient swimming propellers, walking on solid ground is an incredibly awkward, clumsy affair.
Distribution
Anguilla
Antigua & Barbuda
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Bermuda
Bonaire Sint Eustatius And Saba
Brazil
British Indian T.
British Virgin Is.
Canada
Cape Verde
Cayman Islands
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cuba
Curaçao
Dominica
Dominican Republic
El Salvador
Gambia
Grenada
Guadeloupe
Guatemala
Guinea-Bissau
Guinea
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Jamaica
Martinique
Mauritania
Mexico
Montserrat
Morocco
Nicaragua
Panama
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Saint Barthélemy
Saint Lucia
Saint Martin
Saint Vincent
Senegal
Sint Maarten
Spain
St. Kitts & Nevis
Trinidad & Tobago
Turks & Caicos
US Minor Is.
US Virgin Islands
United States
VenezuelaAnything we've missed?
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Terrestrial / Aquatic
Altricial / Precocial
Polygamous / Monogamous
Dimorphic (size) / Monomorphic
Active: Diurnal / Nocturnal
Social behavior: Solitary / Pack / Flock
Diet: Carnivore / Herbivore / Omnivore / Piscivorous / Insectivore
Migratory: Yes / No
Domesticated: Yes / No
Dangerous: Yes / No
