Stuart wrote:

>It always atruck me as kind of weird that manx shearwaters (puffinus
>puffinus) get reported rather than aududon's shearwater. Anyone care to
>enlighten me ?

Lots of good photos now of birds off both Washington and California (and
sight reports from Alaska and Oregon) that can't be anything but the Manx
Shearwater from the Atlantic Ocean. Quite distinct from the smaller, less
crisply marked, browner, dark undertail-coverted Audubon's Shearwater
(which is common off the Pacific coast of Central America but has not been
reported from U.S. mainland Pacific waters). The most similar species,
Townsend's Shearwater of Pacific Mexico and Newell's Shearwater of Hawaii,
have also been eliminated.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416