Pink-footed shearwater  (Puffinus creatopus)

Biology

Arriving at the breeding colonies in November and December, the pink-footed shearwater lays one white egg in a burrow between December and January. Both parents share the incubation duties, foraging in between shifts (2). After 48 – 56 days the egg hatches (3), and the chick will rapidly learn to fly, before leaving the breeding site in April or May (2).

Feeding out to sea, the pink-footed shearwater dives, plunges and picks food from the surface. It takes sardines, anchovies, squid and occasionally crustaceans (2) (3).