Sooty Shearwaters
Sir,—-The sooty shearwater, a petrel, as noted in your recent informant’s remarks, has to run to rise. Seagulls flap their wings and rise straight from the water, helicopter-wise; petrels run up a rising wave into the wind and soar—no flap till air-borne. They can also swim quite deeply under water, and twist and turn with the greatest agility after small fish, whereas a seagull rarely dives more than a foot or so. I have observed shearwaters frequently in the Bay of Plenty, where they nest on White Island; also in Norfolk Island, where their burrows honeycomb the upper cliff faces, and they are locally called ghost-birds.—Yours, etc., KEITH HISKENS. May 8, 1959.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19590515.2.41.2
Bibliographic details
Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28895, 15 May 1959, Page 6
Word Count
114Sooty Shearwaters Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28895, 15 May 1959, Page 6
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