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Sooty Shearwaters nest in New Zealand, Australia, southern Chile and the Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas. Their marine distribution encompasses most of the major oceans. Sooty Shearwaters occur as far north in the Pacific Ocean as the northern Gulf of Alaska and along the Aleutian chain to the Kamchatka Peninsula and Japan, and throughout the Atlantic Ocean to southeast Baffin Island (Howell 2012). During the non-breeding season, populations from New Zealand and Australia largely migrate to the North Pacific, while a smaller number of birds, likely originating from the Falklands, overwinter in the North Atlantic including Canada. Despite being an extremely abundant species worldwide, there are significant and persistent signs of global decrease. However, spatially and temporally patchy survey data in both the Canadian Pacific and Atlantic mean that local changes to population status relative to about 1970 are difficult to determine. This species has been identified as a priority for conservation and/or stewardship in one or more Bird Conservation Region Strategies in Canada.
Over at least the past two decades, there has been a marked decrease in the number of Sooty Shearwaters off the west coast of North America. This may be due to a shift in their marine distribution in the eastern North Pacific; possibly as a response to climatic change and/or changes in prey distribution and availability (Veit et al. 1996, Spear and Ainley 1999, Hyrenbach and Veit 2003). Alternatively, the reduced number may reflect a dramatic decline in the global population of Sooty Shearwaters. Potential causes for that decline include the harvest of ~250,000 chicks from New Zealand breeding colonies (del Hoyo et al. 1992), range-wide bycatch in commercial fisheries (e.g., Taylor 2000, Hedd et al. 2015), and/or predation of eggs and chicks by introduced rats (Jones et al. 2008). However, the relative influence of these factors on the global population status is unclear (Brooke 2004).
Environment and Climate Change Canada and partners have developed Bird Conservation Region Strategies in each of Canada’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). In these strategies, selected species are identified as priorities for one or more of the following reasons:
Select any of the sub-regions below to view the BCR strategy for additional details.