Tropical Shearwater

The tropical shearwater (Puffinus bailloni) is a seabird in the family Procellariidae formerly considered conspecific with Audubon's shearwater (Puffinus lherminieri). The tropical shearwater is found in the tropical parts of the western Indian Ocean from East Africa to southern India and in similar regions of the Pacific from just to the southeast of Japan to French Polynesia. The total population has not been definitively quantified. Subspecies P. b. dichrous is estimated to number 1,000–10,000 pairs on the Line Islands and 10,000–100,000 pairs on the Phoenix Islands, with the nominate subspecies thought to number 3,000–5,000 pairs on Réunion and fewer than 100 individuals on Europa, though it is thought there are many more breeding colonies on other islands in the Pacific. The population seems to be stable.