Description
It is a slender-bodied shearwater, about 36 cm long, with a wingspan of around 75 cm, and weighs around 350 g. The Christmas Shearwater has dark plumage all over, generally blackish-grey with a rusty-brown tinge, slightly paler on the underside of the bird, and with some small edging of white under the chin and pale fringes to the upperwing coverts. It has brown-grey feet and a dark bill and eyes. Both sexes are alike, as are the young after fledging. Nestlings are covered in dark grey down feathers.
The species closely resembles the Sooty ("Puffinus" griseus) and Short-tailed Shearwaters ("P." tenuirostris), but has dark brown underwings and is smaller. The short tail of the Christmas Shearwater does not appear blunt except when spread, but in flight usually tapers to a point, enhanced by the feet which protrude beyond the tail-tip. The Christmas Shearwater often flies in a leisurely way like related Procellariidae, and thus can be mistaken for a petrel. In particular, a very similar species is the extremely rare Fiji Petrel (Pseudobulweria macgillivrayi), a gadfly petrel-like relative of the shearwaters. It looks very similar in habitus and coloration, but the bulbous head and rather thin long bill – typical for shearwaters – distinguish P. nativitatis from the slim-headed thick-billed Fiji Petrel.
Read more about this topic: Christmas Shearwater
Famous quotes containing the word description:
“Why does philosophy use concepts and why does faith use symbols if both try to express the same ultimate? The answer, of course, is that the relation to the ultimate is not the same in each case. The philosophical relation is in principle a detached description of the basic structure in which the ultimate manifests itself. The relation of faith is in principle an involved expression of concern about the meaning of the ultimate for the faithful.”
—Paul Tillich (1886–1965)
“Whose are the truly labored sentences? From the weak and flimsy periods of the politician and literary man, we are glad to turn even to the description of work, the simple record of the month’s labor in the farmer’s almanac, to restore our tone and spirits.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“He hath achieved a maid
That paragons description and wild fame;
One that excels the quirks of blazoning pens.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)