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The Short-tailed Shearwater Puffinus tenuirostris, along with eight other shearwaters of the genus Puffinus and Calonectris, has been identified as a potential candidate for listing within the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatross and Petrels (Cooper & Baker 2008, Cooper 2010).

Short-tailed Shearwaters are trans-equatorial migrants to the North Pacific Ocean from Australian breeding sites.  The global population has been estimated at 30 million birds at 160 colonies, mainly on islands around Tasmania (Brooke 2004).  Exploitation of chicks (muttonbirds) for human consumption, past mortality in pelagic drift nets, drowning on longline hooks in the North Pacific and more recently ecosystem changes (e.g. Uhlmann 2003, Brooke 2004, Baduini et al. 2006) have all been implicated in population declines (see also http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3934).

Selected publications on Short-tailed Shearwaters, 2000-2010

Baduini, C.L., 2000.  The influence of anomalous weather and ocean conditions on the foraging ecology and provisioning in shearwaters.  Ph.D. Thesis, University of California, Irvine.

Baduini, C.L., Hunt Jr., G.L., Pinchuk, A.I. & Coyle, K.O. 2006.  Patterns in diet reveal foraging site fidelity of Short-tailed Shearwaters in the southeastern Bering Sea.  Marine Ecology Progress Series 320: 279-292.

Baduini, C.L., Hyrenbach, K.D., Coyle, K.O., Pinchuk, A., Mendenhall, V, & Hunt Jr, G.L.  2001.  Mass mortality of Short-tailed Shearwaters in the south-eastern Bering Sea during summer 1997.  Fisheries Oceanography 10: 117-130.

Baduini, C.L., Lovvorn, J.R. & Hunt Jr., G.L., 2001.  Determining the body condition of Short-tailed Shearwaters implications for migratory flight ranges and starvation events.  Marine Ecology Progress Series 222: 265-277.

Bradley, J.S. & Meathrel, C.E. 2006.  Prediction of individual reproductive success in Short-tailed Shearwaters, Puffinus tenuirostris.  Acta Zoologica Sinica 52 (Supplement): 91-95.

Bradley, J.S., Cox, J.M., Nicholson, L.W., Wooller, R.D., Hamer, K.C. & Hill, J.K. 2000.  Parental influence upon the provisioning schedules of nestling Short-tailed Shearwaters Puffinus tenuirostris.  Journal of Avian Biology 31: 522-526.

Bradley, J.S., Wooller, R.D. & Skira, I.J. 2000.  Intermittent breeding in the Short-tailed Shearwater Puffinus tenuirostris.  Journal of Animal Ecology 69: 639-650.

Brooke, M. [de L.] 2004. Albatrosses and Petrels across the World.  Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Carey, M.J. 2010.  Predation of Short-tailed Shearwater eggs on Great Dog Island, Tasmania.  Australian Field Ornithology 27: 59-64.

Carey, M.J., Meathrel, C.E. & May, N.A. 2009.  A new method for the long-term attachment of data-loggers to shearwaters (Procellariidae).  Emu 109: 310-315.

Cooper, J. 2010.  A brief review of the conservation status of shearwaters Calonectris and Puffinus.  ACAP AC5 Inf 15.

Cooper, J. & Baker, G.B. 2008.  Identifying candidate species for inclusion within the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels.  Marine Ornithology 36: 1-8.

Einoder, L.D. & Goldsworthy, S.D.  Foraging flights of Short-tailed Shearwaters (Puffinus tenuirostris) from Althorpe Island: assessing their use of neritic waters.  Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 129: 209-216.

Einoder, L.D., Page, B. & Goldsworthy, S.D. 2008.  Sexual size dimorphism and assortative mating in the Short-tailed Shearwater Puffinus tenuirostris.  Marine Ornithology 36: 167-173.

Gould, P., Ostrom. P. & Walker, W. 2000.  Foods, trophic relationships, and migration of Sooty and Short-tailed Shearwaters associated with squid and large-mesh driftnet fisheries in the North Pacific Ocean.  Waterbirds 23: 165-186.

Hunt Jr., G.L., Baduini, C.[L.] &, Jaime Jahncke, J.  Diets of Short-tailed Shearwaters in the southeastern Bering Sea.  Deep-Sea Research II 49: 6147-6156.

Ito, S. 2001  Foraging areas of Short-tailed Shearwaters during their northward migration along the Pacific coast of northern Japan.  Ornithological Science 1: 159-162.

Lovvorn, J.R., Baduini, C.L. & Hunt Jr., G.L. 2001.  Modeling underwater visual and filter feeding by planktivorous shearwaters in unusual sea conditions.  Ecology 82: 2342-2356.

Meathrel, C.E. & Carey, M.J. 2007.  How important are intrinsic factors to natal recruitment in Short-tailed Shearwaters Puffinus tenuirostris?  Journal of Ornithology 148 (Suppl. 2): S385-S393.

Saffer, V.M., Bradley, .J.S, Wooller, R.D. & Meathrel, C.E. 2000.  Patterns of growth in nestling Short-tailed Shearwaters Puffinus tenuirostris.  Emu 100: 42-48.

Saffer, V.M., Bradley, J.S., Wooller, R.D. & Meathrel, C.E . 2000.  The effect of human activity on the growth rates of Short-tailed Shearwater Puffinus tenuirostris chicks.  Emu 100: 49-53.

Uhlmann, S. 2001.  Incidental takes of Sooty (Puffinus griseus) and Short-tailed Shearwaters (P. tenuirostris) in fisheries.  MSc thesis, Department of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin.

Uhlmann, S.  2003.  Fisheries bycatch mortalities of Sooty Shearwaters (Puffinus griseus) and Short-tailed Shearwaters (P. tenuirostris).  Department of Conservation Science Internal Series 92: 1-52.

With thanks to Cheryl Baduini and Mark Carey for information.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 29 November 2010