Species › Birds

Balearic Shearwater

Puffinus mauretanicus

Order: Procellariiformes
Family: Procellariidae
Presence in the Strait: Seasonal
Abundance: abundant
Protection in Spain: In danger of extinction · Andalusian Catalogue
In Spanish: Pardela balear

Marine taxonomy: validated in WoRMS, AphiaID 445503

32% of its open observations in the area are from October.

Photograph: Thibaud Aronson, CC BY-SA, vía iNaturalist

Length: 34–38 cm
Weight: 520 g

Presence in the Strait

Abundant pelagic winter visitor with some summer sightings.

Identification

The size of a dove, dark coloured. Dark brownish above and brownish-white below. Shadowing on neck. Usually fly in small groups.

Movements

Through the Strait all year. Postnuptial migration is inconspicuous, from the end of April to July with peaks in May; prenuptial migration from August to March with peaks in October.

Bioestrecho editorial text. Last revised: 8 September 2026.

Photographs from iNaturalist observations with the licence checked file by file. Those marked “Strait” were taken within the area; place and date are those of each observation.

Calendar in the Strait

32 %

Peak in October. Observations under CC0 or CC BY licences. The distribution also reflects observation effort.

Where it is seen

Open records from the atlas database, in cells of about 3.6 km. Opacity follows the square root of the count, and also reflects where people observe most.

See on the map

First open record: 25 February 1966
Latest record: 28 October 2025

The oldest and the most recent open observation in the extended area. A recent first observation does not mean the species is new: it means nobody had published it openly before.

Conservation

The catalogues, Andalusian and Spanish, are what binds; the Red Book assesses the Spanish population with IUCN criteria, and the global Red List is the context.

LCNTVUENCR

Andalusian Catalogue: In danger of extinction
Spanish Catalogue: In danger of extinction
Red Book of the Birds of Spain 2021: CR · Critically endangered · breeding
Global Red List (IUCN): CR · Critically endangered

Annex I of the Birds Directive

Andalusian Catalogue: Junta de Andalucía, list of 24 April 2025. Spanish Catalogue: MITECO, table of 30 June 2025. Red Book: SEO/BirdLife, 2021 (Annex I). IUCN: via GBIF, 6 September 2026. Red Book and IUCN categories are assessments; catalogue categories are legal obligations.

Phenology compared

Monthly distribution in proportion, by decade. It shows whether the passage is getting earlier or later.

2000–2009

2010–2026

Proportions, not totals: observation effort grew faster than any population.

Same genus in the Strait

Yelkouan Shearwater32–38 cm · Seasonal · overlapping size
Manx Shearwater30–38 cm · Vagrant · overlapping size
Sooty Shearwater40–51 cm · Migrant
Great Shearwater43–51 cm · Occasional

Species of the same genus that also occur here, ordered by how close they are in size. Being relatives does not mean they are confused in the field, but that is where the doubts start: compare size and season.

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Procellariiformes
Family: Procellariidae
GBIF taxon key: 5229360

Sources

Distribution and calendar: Bioestrecho's own database, ingested from GBIF and OBIS
Photograph: Thibaud Aronson, CC BY-SA, vía iNaturalist
Taxonomy: GBIF backbone, pending WoRMS for marine taxa
Editorial text: written by Bioestrecho
Last revised: 8 September 2026

Balearic Shearwater

Presence in the Strait

Identification

Movements

Gallery