Range and Ecology
The Christmas Shearwater nests on remote islands of the Central Pacific: the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Tuamotu, the Marshall Islands, Kiritimati (for which the species is named) and Sala-y-Gómez. It has become locally extinct on a number of islands, including Wake Island. Outside of the breeding season it ranges across the Pacific, having been recorded off the coast of Mexico and Guatemala in the east, and Bonin Islands in the west. Further south it is rare, having been recorded off Fiji only twice (one time in early-mid May).
Like its relatives it feeds at sea, predominantly on squid, and fish, mostly flying fish (Exocoetidae) and goatfish (Mullidae). It is highly pelagic and is dependent on predatory fish such as tuna driving prey species to the surface. As mentioned above, it does not only have the dramatic stiff-winged "shearing" (dynamic soaring) flight technique which gave the shearwaters their common name. In addition to it, it may use the plesiomorphic flight technique of petrels and similar Procellariidae, moving about with slow, leisurely wingbeats.
The Christmas Shearwater nests on sandy islands with good cover. It nests on the surface, underneath dense cover (such as naupakas, Scaevola), or under rock outcroppings. It lays one white egg, the timing of laying varying from island to island, on some islands breeding throughout the year. The egg is incubated for around 50 days. The time taken to fledge varies depending on the season, ranging from 60 to 100 days.
Read more about this topic: Christmas Shearwater
Famous quotes containing the words range and/or ecology:
“They didnt know
how
my heart woke
to a range and measure
of song
I hadnt known.”
—Hilda Doolittle (18861961)
“... the fundamental principles of ecology govern our lives wherever we live, and ... we must wake up to this fact or be lost.”
—Karin Sheldon (b. c. 1945)