Features that distinguish the Barolo shearwater from the Manx shearwater and other North Atlantic Puffinus species include the pale face, silvery panel in the upperwings, shorter more rounded wings, and blue feet.[8] As well as the pale face with the darkly contrasting eye.[9]
Distribution
The Barolo shearwater breeds on the Azores, Desertas, Savage and Canary Islands.[10] The largest colony, of 1400 pairs, occurs on the Selvagen Islands.[11] The non-breeding range is the tropical and sub-tropic northeast Atlantic.[12]
Behaviour
The Barolo shearwater feeds in the upper 15m of the water column, which is similar to the closely related Audubon's shearwaterPuffinus lherminieri of the western Atlantic and Caribbean Sea. Barolo shearwaters do not have a preferred time of day to forage or rest and they may hunt for food during either day or night, although they seem to be more ready to fly in the daylight hours. They feed mainly on fish and cephalopods, with Argonauta argo being the most common cephalopod taken in the Azores but also being part of a diverse selection of cephalopod prey, while the fish taken were almost exclusively Phycis spp.[13]
Threats
Like other Procellariforms, introduced predators (rats and cats) must be their main threats at breeding colonies. In addition, fledglings are attracted to artificial lights at night during their maiden flights from nests to the sea.[14] On Tenerife, Canary Islands, a decline on the number of birds attracted to lights have been reported, suggesting a population decline on the island.[15]
^Brisson, Mathurin Jacques (1760). Ornithologie, ou, Méthode Contenant la Division des Oiseaux en Ordres, Sections, Genres, Especes & leurs Variétés (in French and Latin). Paris: Jean-Baptiste Bauche. Vol. 1, p. 56, Vol. 6, pp. 129-130.
^Austin, J.J.; Bretagnolle, V.; Pasquet, E. (2004). "A global molecular phylogeny of the small Puffinus shearwaters and implications for systematics of the little-Audubon's shearwater complex". The Auk. 121 (3): 847–864. doi:10.1642/0004-8038(2004)121[0847:AGMPOT]2.0.CO;2. JSTOR4090321.
^Rodríguez, Airam (2009). "Attraction of petrels to artificial lights in the Canary Islands: effects of the moon phase and age class". Ibis. 151 (2): 299–310. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.2009.00925.x. hdl:10261/45133.
^Rodríguez, Airam (2012). "Trends in numbers of petrels attracted to artificial lights suggest population declines in Tenerife, Canary Islands". Ibis. 154: 167–172. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.2011.01175.x. hdl:10261/45113.