Cory's Shearwater

How to find it

Ocean birding off Costa Rica is infrequent, so new seabird records are still expected, and this shearwater is not a bird to plan a trip around. If you are at sea on the Caribbean side, watch for a large pale shearwater gliding low over the water with bowed wings. Check the bill for its yellowish colour and dark tip, and look for the absence of a black cap. Boats that draw birds with fishing discards may bring one close, since this species often follows fishing boats. Even then, expect the identification to stay open.

How to recognise it

Cory's is a large, robust shearwater. Across its range it is the largest shearwater seen in European waters, with a wingspan of about 126 cm on average.

Look for these marks:

A light grey back and white underparts.

Long, narrow wings with dark edges.

A large yellowish bill with a dark, hooked tip.

No black cap, which separates it from the similar-sized Great Shearwater. It also looks paler overall than the Manx-type shearwaters.

The Atlantic form has a more robust bill and a darker, more contrasted underwing edge than the Mediterranean form. Its white underwing patch is rounded rather than wedge-shaped.

What it sounds like

Recording: Valentin Moser, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

It flies easily on broad wings. It looks relaxed but moves fast in long glides, broken by a few deep, powerful wingbeats, and it usually stays low over the water. Its glide is a good clue: the wings are bowed and angled slightly back.

Adults feed at sea on fish, crustaceans and squid. They dive and swim underwater using their wings, and they sometimes feed alongside dolphins and tuna.

Where it lives

This is a bird of the open ocean, where it spends most of its life. It breeds on rocky islands in the eastern Atlantic, and outside the breeding season it ranges widely across the Atlantic. After breeding, Atlantic-form birds leave in October and head to the western Atlantic and the South American coast.

In Costa Rica it has been recorded only in Caribbean waters, off the shorter of the country's two coasts.

When to see it

Dated Costa Rican records are from 2003 and December 2004. An older sighting off Costa Rica in August 1953 is also mentioned.

Similar birds

Cory's Shearwater was once treated as the same species as Scopoli's Shearwater, and the two are hard to separate at sea, so Costa Rican records are often reported as Cory's or Scopoli's. Great Shearwater (Ardenna gravis) is similar in size and is also on the Costa Rican list as status A. It has a black cap, which Cory's lacks, and it flies with stiff, straight wings.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The AOCR name is Pardela Cenicienta. Other Spanish names are pardela cenicienta atlántica, pardela canaria, Pardela Cenicienta Canaria and Petrel de Cory. In folklore, shearwaters are linked with death.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list gives Cory's Shearwater status A, which marks an accidental species and not a regular visitor to Costa Rica.