Balearic shearwater Balearic shearwater The Balearic shearwater ("Puffinus mauretanicus") is a medium-sized shearwater in the seabird family "Procellariidae". "Puffinus" is a New Latin loanword based on the English "puffin" and its variants, such as poffin, pophyn and puffing, that referred to the cured carcass of the fat nestling of the Manx shearwater, a former delicacy. The specific "mauretanicus" refers to Mauretania, an old name for an area of North Africa roughly corresponding to Morocco and Algeria. It was long regarded a subspecies of the Manx shearwater (see there for more on the "Puffinus puffinus" superspecies); following an initial split it was held
Diego Garcia Other nesting native birds include red-tailed tropicbirds ("Phaethon rubricauda"), wedge-tailed shearwaters ("Puffinus pacificus"), Audubon's shearwater ("Puffinus iherminierii"), black-naped terns ("Sterna sumatrana"), white (or fairy) terns ("Gygis alba"), striated herons ("Butorides striatus"), and white-breasted waterhens ("Amaurornis phoenicurus"). The 680-hectare Barton Point Nature Reserve was identified as an Important Bird Area for its large breeding colony of red-footed boobies. The island hosts introduced bird species from many regions, including cattle egrets ("Bubulcus ibis"), Indian barred ground dove, also called the zebra dove ("Geopelia striata"), turtle dove ("Nesoenas picturata"), Indian mynah ("Acridotheres tristis"), Madagascar fody ("Foudia madagascariensis"), and chickens ("Gallus gallus"). Currently, three