Head to head
Shearwater vs Tropicbird
A shearwater and a tropicbird both spend nearly their entire lives far out over open ocean, touching land only to breed, yet each has evolved a completely different way of finding food across a habitat with almost no fixed landmarks at all.
| Shearwater | Tropicbird | |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific name | Ardenna spp. | Phaethon spp. |
| Foraging sense | Strong sense of smell | Vision, hunting by sight |
| Hunting style | Surface feeding and shallow dives | Spectacular plunge dives from height |
| Nest site | Burrows on remote islands | Cliff ledges on remote islands |
| Colony visits | Only at night | Daytime and nighttime |
| Mobility on land | Awkward but functional | Very poor, legs set far back |
| Signature feature | Stiff-winged low glide | Extremely long tail streamers |
| Conservation status | Least Concern | Least Concern |
Shearwater vs Tropicbird: common questions
How do a shearwater and a tropicbird find food differently?
A shearwater relies on an unusually well-developed sense of smell to detect scattered food sources across vast stretches of open ocean, while a tropicbird hunts primarily by sight, spotting fish or squid from height before committing to a dramatic plunge dive straight into the ocean surface.
Why do both birds struggle to move on land?
Both species spend nearly their entire lives over open ocean and have bodies adapted for flight and swimming rather than walking, though the tropicbird is considerably worse off, with legs set so far back on its body that it is genuinely clumsy and vulnerable whenever forced onto land, more so than the shearwater.
Do the shearwater and tropicbird nest in the same kind of place?
Not quite — a shearwater typically nests in a burrow it digs on a remote island, visiting only under cover of darkness, while a tropicbird nests instead on open cliff ledges and rocky outcrops, a more exposed nest site that does not require the same burrowing behaviour.