Shearwater

Shearwater, any of about 12 species of oceanic birds related to the petrel and the albatross. They are brown or dark gray, sometimes with a white belly, 10–26 in (25–66 cm) in length with long, slender wings. Shearwaters land only to reproduce, congregating in huge colonies on offshore islands and the rugged coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and the Mediterranean. They nest in burrows. The female lays one egg, and the chick is tended by both parents.