BALEARIC SHEARWATER

(Puffinis yelkouan)

Also known as Mediterranean Shearwater (C)
Previously known as Yelkouan Shearwater (6)

split from Manx Shearwater (H)

A medium bird (32-38 cm), previously (and still by some) regarded as a sub-species of the Manx Shearwater (R38). It breeds in the Mediterranean Sea, and disperses throughout the Atlantic Ocean. It is a very rare vagrant to South Africa, with two specimens collected in the western Cape.  The specimens were from the sub-species P [y] mauretanicus