A dark seabird that breeds in Australia and makes long ocean journeys.
The plumage is dark brown and the tail rounded. In flight, the feet project slightly behind the body.
Researchers modelled Short-tailed Shearwater breeding habitat using burrow counts from 14 islands near Wilsons Promontory, southeastern Australia, and mapped environmental data. Burrow density was higher on south-east-facing slopes, moderate inclines, lower ground and sites away from the shoreline. Projected to 258 known colonies, the model estimated 11.26 million burrows and 12.84 million breeding birds (range 11.51–14.17 million).
These are model estimates, not a count of every burrow. Field data came from 14 nearby islands only, and the authors said more geographically balanced training data could improve accuracy. The study shows how local surveys and terrain maps can estimate the scale of remote island breeders while making uncertainty visible.
IUCN Red List · Least Concern (LC) · Global species-level assessment
BirdLife International’s global IUCN assessment listed the Short-tailed Shearwater as Least Concern on 7 August 2018, while recording a decreasing population trend. This is a global species assessment, not a separate status for each breeding island. A 2025 study estimated breeding numbers with a habitat model, but its ground data came from 14 islands in southeastern Australia; that model estimate should not be treated as the IUCN assessment’s population figure.