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Studies of Less Familar Birds 147. Cory's Shearwater by Francis Roux and Christian Jouanin (Plates 20-22)

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Studies of Less Familar Birds 147. Cory's Shearwater by Francis Roux and Christian Jouanin (Plates 20-22) Studies of less familar birds 147. Cory's Shearwater By Francis Roux and Christian Jouanin (Plates 20-22) Various changes have been made in the scientific nomenclature of Cory's Shearwater since the publication of The Handbook of British Birds (1938-41). Not only has the specific name kuhlii been replaced by diomedea, in accordance with the rale of priority, but, following the osteological work of Mayaud (1932) and Kuroda (1954), the re-estab­ lishment of the genus Calonectris, between Procellaria and Puffinus, has been proposed (Alexander et al. 1965). Thus it is by the scientific name of Calonectris diomedea—and no longer Puffinus kuhlii or Procellaria diomedea—that the species is designated in most recent works. Its biology and status are not much better known than they were 30 years ago, however, because research into these aspects has not advanced to the same extent that it has with, for instance, the tubenoses nesting in the British Isles, such as the Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus and Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis. Lockley (1952) and Bourne (i955)made the principal contributions to knowledge of the geographical variations and nesting habits of Cory's Shearwater. More recently, Pickering (1959) and Jouanin and Roux (1966) described what is probably the largest colony in the Atlantic, that on Great Salvage between the Canary Islands and Madeira; in this connection, we also summarised information obtained on the biological cycle, and usefal data on breed­ ing in the Azores were given by Mallet and Coghlas (1964). With a wing span nearly equal to that of a Lesser Black-backed Gull harusfuscus, Cory's Shearwater is the largest of the tubenoses breeding in Europe. But the Great Shearwater Puffinus gravis of Tristan da Cunha, whose range outside the breeding season covers the north Atlantic and which in summer passes through European -waters, is hardly smaller and generally rather similar, so that the separation of the two species is not always easy. At a distance, Cory's looks a large shearwater with long wings, a moderately long wedge-shaped tail, almost uniform grey- brown upper-parts (including the head) and immaculate white under- parts. At closer range, the lighter edges to the mantle feathtQs, especi­ ally in fresh plumage, make the whole mantle look paier than the wings (plate 22) and the under-surface of the wings riiows a grey border (plate 20). There are never dark markings on the axillaries, flanks and belly, nor does Cory's have the pale collar and dark crown of the Great Shearwater. In that species a deep brown crown contrasts sharply with 163 BRITISH BIRDS a pale nape and a pure .white throat; Cory's has no pale zone separating the crown from the mantle, and the hood extends on to the side of the neck to shade off gradually into the white of the throat and hreast (plate 20); this presence or absence of a cap and white side-neck is probably the best quick character for distinguishing the two species. Although visible only at rather close ranges, the strong, yellowish bill (plates 21-22) is a certain identification feature, as that of the Great Shearwater is blackish and noticeably more slender. A white V-shaped mark above the tail, generally lacking in Cory's, is illustrated in numerous identification books, including A. Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe (1954), as one of the distinguishing features of the Great Shearwater. In fact, the observation of this character alone is not sufficient for identification in the field, as many Cory's show a noticeable white mark at the base of the tail (plate 22): the upper tail-coverts are often pale-tipped and so contrast with the dark brown tail. The frequency and extent of this white mark seems to vary not only among individuals and with the state-of the plumage, but also between races and even populations of the same race. Hun­ dreds of individuals observed by Nisbet and Smout (1957; 201) in autumn in the eastern Mediterra­ nean showed no trace of it. Yet not Great Shearwater "Puffinus gravis, off less than 30% of the Cory's Shear­ Cape Clear, Co. Cork, September 1965 waters of the Madekan archipelago (see a!so pages 145-159). Note the clear-cut cap, white side-neck and and Salvage Islands have suchamark dark bill which distinguish it from above the tail in the summer. As Cory's Shearwater {phot): K. W. Perry) this large Atlantic race C. d. borealis appears off British and Irish coasts at the same time as the Great Shearwater, it is therefore necessary when seeing a shearwater with a whitish rump to examine the head pattern and bill coloration,before deciding the species. The nature of the flight •is also an important character, as Cory's does not fly in the same manner as the other shearwaters of European seas: its wing beats are notably slower, its glides longer sustained, its action less of a 'flutter and glide'. In calm weather it glides for long distances on bowed wings, giving from time to time two or three heavy flaps. An important character is that the tips of the wings are held below the horizontal of the body in gliding. In rough weather the ease 164 CORY'S SHEARWATER STUDIES and freedom of its action are suggestive of an albatross Diomedea spp. rather than of the more laborious flight of other shearwaters. In these circumstances it can be distinguished at a distance from the Great Shearwater, as Dr. W. R. P. Bourne (in Palmer 1962) has noted, 'by great height to which it rises when towering into wind, so that it appears above horizon, and the appearance of a pure white belly as it turns to resume downwind glide*. It is, in fact, rare for the Great Shear­ water, whose low skimming flight resembles that of the Manx Shear­ water, to rise much above the waves. Cory's Shearwater frequents the Mediterranean and north-east Atlantic, and comprises three distinct subspecies. The characters des­ cribed above apply principally to the European forms: the Mediter­ ranean C. d. diomedea, of intermediate size, and the North Atlantic C. d. borealis, which is larger. Apart from the size difference, which is very noticeable in the hand, these two subspecies are inseparable in the field. The third subspecies, C. d. edwardsti, frequents the Cape Verde Islands in the eastern tropical Atlantic. It is distinctly smaller than the first two, and can be distinguished by the darker coloration of its upper-parts (centre of back as dark as wings), by its weaker beak which for the most part is blackish and not yellow, and by its longer and more square-cut tail. Although probably a migrant like the others, as it is absent from the Cape Verde archipelago in winter, this form has not been recorded north of the tropics. The typical race nests in the Mediterranean from Spain to the Adria­ tic, the Balkans and Asia Minor as far as the Bosphorus, mainly on small offshore islands. The best known colonies are on the Balearic Islands, on certain islets off the coasts of Mediterranean France and Corsica and Sardinia, and on the island of Zembra in the Gulf of Tunis. Much less information is available on the size and exact location of colonies in the eastern Mediterranean: these are mainly in the Aegean, on the coasts of Turkey and in Crete, but not in Cyprus. There are no nesting records from the east and south Mediterranean coasts between Turkey and Tunisia. In autumn this race migrates to the Atlantic and from the Straits of Gibraltar extends down the coasts of western and southern Africa. It occurs in abundance to the south-west of the Cape of Good Hope from November to March and is a vagrant as far as the eastern coasts of the United States, where specimens have been col­ lected off Long Island and the Florida Keys. The one British record of this race has now been discarded with the Hastings Rarities (Nicholson and Ferguson-Lees 1962); nevertheless, it is not unlikely to be encoun­ tered in British waters as k has been taken on the north coast of Brittany and on the North Sea coast of Germany. The North Atlantic race C. d. borealis, distinguished by its larger size and rather stronger beak, breeds on the Berlengas off Portugal, in the i6S BRITISH BIRDS Madeiran archipelago (on the Desertas and on Porto Santo), on Great Salvage, in the Canary Islands (mainly on the eastern group) and in the Azores. Its non-breeding range extends westwards to the North American coast, off which it is particularly common from August to November, and north-east to about 50° north. It is now recognised annually in varying numbers off Ireland and in British Atlantic seas. Vagrants also occur more rarely in the North Sea and the English Channel. It has been recorded once in the Netherlands and once in the south Baltic. There is little doubt that this North Atlantic race pene­ trates the southern hemisphere, as it has been recorded from the coast of Brazil. Its occurrence off South Africa is only recently confirmed; earlier records there have been attributed by Dr. W. R. P. Bourne to the Mediterranean form (Palmer 1962). Contrary to former opinion, founded on an error in the labelling of two specimens collected by Ross's Antarctic Expedition in 1840, the species is unknown in the Indian Ocean (Bourne 1955). It is in February-March that the adult Cory's Shearwaters return to their breeding localities, both in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic (the annual cycle of the different populations seems identical).
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