The Galapagos shearwater is an endemic breeder in the Galapagos Islands. It breeds on Wolf, Champion, Espanola and Santa Cruz Islands and islets off Santa Cruz Island. I saw them on two occasions, once off Moreno Point, which is on Isabela and once of Baltra Island which is right off Santa Cruz. The best view I had was off Baltra while we were anchored and waiting to go to shore to leave. They were in a large flock on the water.
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| Range map for the Galapagos shearwater from Wikipedia. |
It used to be considered an isolated subspecies of the Audubon's shearwater, but is now considered its own species. When not breeding it ranges mainly north and can be seen as far north as the Oaxacan coast of Mexico.
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| Off Moreno Point. |
It has dark brown upperparts, undertail and underwing flight feathers. The rest of the underparts are white. It feeds at sea, flying low over the water, eating squid, fish and offal.
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| Off Baltra Island. |
I've previously seen the great shearwater and sooty shearwater off New Brunswick, Canada, in the Bay of Fundy.
That last photo of several dozen is great. The second to last photo looks like a torpedo.
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