Pink-Footed Shearwater
Puffinus creatopus
Pink-Footed Shearwaters are members of the “Tube Nose” group. These pelagic (sea) birds are deep divers and only found on land during nesting, where they use borrows and stay in colonies.
They range in the eastern Pacific Ocean from Alaska to South America. But their only known breeding colonies are on a few islands at the southern end of their range off the coast of central Chile. From December to February, they will lay a single large egg inside burrows about six feet deep. The chicks fledge in April and May.
Conservationists consider the Pink-Footed Shearwater as vulnerable. There is a lot of pressure in their breeding colonies from humans harvesting chicks (3000 to 5000 per year). They are also threatened by other mammalian predators such as coatimundis (Nasua nasua), and introduced rats and cats.
Taxonomists regard these birds as monotypic (i.e. there are no known subspecies).
I have been lucky enough to meet Pink-Footed Shearwaters off the coast of San Diego a few times. I have also found them off the central coast of Baja California (Mexico) while on a science expedition to the Revillagigedo Islands in February 2017.
6 Photos

Pink-Footed Shearwater(Puffinus creatopus) |
Description: Open Ocean, Near the Thirty-Mile Bank, off shore from Mission Beach and La Jolla, California. |
Date Taken: 2012:06:16 10:55 |
Location:
La Jolla |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 400 mm, f/4.0, 1/2000 |
File Name: D3X3463-PinkFootedShearwater |
© 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTree Imaging |


Pink-Footed Shearwater(Puffinus creatopus) |
Description: Open Ocean, off shore from Mission Beach and La Jolla, California. |
Date Taken: 2010:01:01 10:42 |
Location:
Open Ocean |
Camera Information: NIKON D2X, 550 mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 |
File Name: JCD4382.PinkFootedShearwater |
© 2010 Jack Daynes, shadeTree Imaging |


Pink-Footed Shearwater(Puffinus creatopus) |
Description: Open Ocean, Near the Thirty-Mile Bank, off shore from Mission Beach and La Jolla, California. |
Date Taken: 2012:06:16 10:55 |
Location:
La Jolla |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 400 mm, f/4.0, 1/2000 |
File Name: Cut_D3X3463-PinkFootedShearwater |
© 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTree Imaging |


Pink-Footed Shearwater(Puffinus creatopus) |
Description: On board the Shogun south of our last stop at Isla Asuncion and approaching Isla Margarita |
Date Taken: 2017:02:12 9:37 |
Location:
Off Shore |
Camera Information: NIKON D5, 550 mm, f/7.1, 1/8000 |
File Name: PinkFootedShearwater_D5X5560 |
© 2017 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Pink-Footed Shearwater(Puffinus creatopus) |
Description: On board the Shogun south of our last stop at Isla Asuncion and approaching Isla Margarita |
Date Taken: 2017:02:12 10:07 |
Location:
Off Shore |
Camera Information: NIKON D5, 550 mm, f/7.1, 1/8000 |
File Name: PinkFootedShearwater_D5X5714 |
© 2017 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Pink-Footed Shearwater(Puffinus creatopus) |
Description: On board the Shogun south of our last stop at Isla Asuncion and approaching Isla Margarita |
Date Taken: 2017:02:12 10:07 |
Location:
Off Shore |
Camera Information: NIKON D5, 550 mm, f/7.1, 1/6400 |
File Name: PinkFootedShearwater_D5X5740 |
© 2017 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |

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