The Fluttering Shearwater is a small shearwater with dark brown upperparts, white throat and belly, and a partial dark collar.
The head is dark brown, the bill and feet grayish brown, and the throat and belly white. There is a partial dark collar, brown upperwings, and white underwings with brown borders.
It eats small fish and crustaceans, especially krill.
Around New Zealand it forages over the continental shelf and inshore waters, including sheltered bays and harbours.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.