Streaked Shearwater records from Western Australia represent a “substantial range expansion”

A Streaked Shearwater beach-washed on Wylie Bay Beach, Esperance, Western Australia, 01 April 2024, from the publication

Jennifer Lavers (Gulbali Institute, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia) & Lori-Ann Shibish have published in the open-access journal Marine Ornithology on Near Threatened Streaked Shearwaters Calonectris leucomelas recorded beach washed and in waters off Western Australia.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“The Streaked Shearwater Calonectris leucomelas is an oceanic seabird that breeds in coastal Japan, Korea, China, and eastern Russia and typically migrates to waters off northern Australia. This paper documents the discovery of four Streaked Shearwaters on the southwest coast of Western Australia. First, a live bird was photographed off Albany, Western Australia, in 2012, with three additional birds photographed at sea or found beach-washed farther east along Australia's southern coastline in 2019 and 2024. These locations lie ~630 km southwest of the species' currently recognized non-breeding range, which is concentrated in the tropical waters around northern Australia and New Guinea. The novel records represent a substantial range expansion and highlight the potential influence of changing oceanic conditions, such as the warming of the Leeuwin Current, on the occurrence of vagrant seabirds in the temperate waters of the Southern Ocean.”

Reference:

Lavers, J.L. & Shibish, L-A. 2026.  Records of the Streaked Shearwater Calonectris leucomelas as a vagrant along the south coast of Western Australia.  Marine Ornithology 54: 431-435.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 26 October 2026