Shearwaters-family Procellariidae
A moderately large family of oceanic gull-like birds with curiously structured tube-nose bills, hooked at the end and with the nostrils opening in a double tube on top of the bill.
Shearwaters get their English name from their habit of flying just above the water surface or even touching the water. They dive for fish and crustaceans and nest on cliff ledges or in borrows on rocky islets. They are predominantly temperate in distribution with four species seen off Java.
Key to Javan Shearwaters
underside dark chocolate……………………………………….(2)
underside white………………………………………………….(3)
2. Bill long and slender Puffinus pacificus (dark form)
Bill short and squat………………………………..Bulweria bulwerii
upperparts grey with blackish W pattern on back and wings
…………………………………………………Pachyptila desolata
Upperparts uniform grayish brown………………………………(4)
Tail wedge-shaped, blackish………………(Puffinus pacificus (pale form)
Tail rounded, brown…………………………..Colonectris leucomelas