Fluttering Shearwater (5/5)

PROCELLARIIFORMES: Procellariidae

Puffinus gavia  

Shearwaters are a specialised diving bird. They "fly" underwater using their wings, and their feet and tails function as rudders in a similar manner to penguins, awks and diving-petrels.

Other species of diving birds, namely cormorants, ducks, divers and grebes, swim underwater by paddling their feet.*

*Bird Behaviour by Robert Burton, 1985, p.27.