Townsend's shearwater Townsend's shearwater The Townsend's shearwater, "Puffinus auricularis", is a rare seabird of the tropics from the family Procellariidae. Its relationships are unresolved. Its closest relatives are probably, but not certainly, the Hawaiian shearwater ("Puffinus newelli") and possibly the Manx shearwater ("Puffinus puffinus") (Austin, 1996; Austin "et al.", 2004). It formerly contained the former as a subspecies and was long considered a subspecies of the latter. The relationship of the Rapa shearwater, "P. myrtae" in regard to these species are also in need of research; this taxon was until recently placed in "P. assimilis" (Austin "et al.", 2004), but now raised
Audubon's shearwater likely, as yet another synonym of "dichrous". The case of the more distinct "bannermani", the range of which is parapatric to that of the Pacific "dichrous", is more complicated. It has for some time been proposed as a distinct species, Bannerman's shearwater ("P. bannermani"). In the absence of more recent data to investigate this claim, its status continues to be altogether unresolved, though the case for it being at least a distinct subspecies in the "bailloni" clade seems good. Audubon's shearwater The Audubon's shearwater ("Puffinus lherminieri") is a common tropical seabird in the petrel family. Sometimes known as the dusky-backed