Puffinus pacificus
Silhouette: Juan Carlos Jerí · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The wedge-tailed shearwater (Ardenna pacifica) (Uau Kani or Koto in Hawaiian) is a medium-large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It is one of the shearwater species that is sometimes referred to as a muttonbird, like the sooty shearwater of New Zealand and the short-tailed shearwater of Australia. It is found throughout the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans, roughly between latitudes 35°N and 35°S. It breeds on the islands off Japan, on the Islas Revillagigedo, the Hawaiian Islands, the Seychelles, the Northern Mariana Islands, and off Eastern and Western Australia.
Its Hawaiian name "Uau Kani" reflects the sound of their bird call. Native Hawaiians had sometimes named birds after the nature of their melody. The wedge-tailed shearwater was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the petrels in the genus Procellaria and coined the binomial name Procellaria pacifica. Gmelin based his description on the "Pacific petrel" that had been described in 1785 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his book A General Synopsis of Birds... Wikipedia →
Recording0:16
United States · 2025
Damien Wallace · iNaturalist · CC0
Recording0:10
United States · 2023
© Chalon Boesel · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
Recording0:17
United States · 2026
© Melinda Fawver · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cabo Blanco Absolute Nature Reserve | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Isla del Coco National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 3 | Rottnest Island | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 4 | Ningaloo Marine Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 5 | Cabo Pulmo National Park | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 6 | Royal National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 7 | Raja Ampat | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 8 | Manuel Antonio National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 9 | Corcovado National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 10 | Galápagos Islands | 🇪🇨 Ecuador |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sydney | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sea Life Park Hawaii | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Wedge-tailed Shearwater sighting in Ningaloo Marine Park on a given day, based on 61 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 66th most-seen of the 102 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Wedge-tailed Shearwater in Ningaloo Marine Park on a given day, against under 5% in April–June, October and December–February, the lowest months. That is one of Ningaloo Marine Park's wettest months, with about 45 mm of rain against almost none in October.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Wedge-tailed Shearwater sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 10 parks where we can rate Wedge-tailed Shearwater sightings, Ningaloo Marine Park ranks 4th at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Cabo Blanco Absolute Nature Reserve (Costa Rica, about 10%), Isla del Coco National Park (Costa Rica, about 10%) and Rottnest Island (Australia, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Wedge-tailed Shearwater is recorded against all the birds logged in Ningaloo Marine Park (61 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
