Audubon's shearwater underparts are white, as is the head below eye level. The iris is dark, the feet are dull pink with a black wash and black toenails, and the bill is grey, darker towards the tip, and with a pinkish hue. Males and females look alike. Immature birds do not have a distinct plumage, while the nestlings are covered with down feathers, grey above and whitish on the belly. It can be confused with the Manx shearwater ("P. puffinus"), which has white undertail coverts and in direct comparison a longer bill. Other similar-looking species are usually completely allopatric, though the largely
Tropical shearwater subspecies thought to number 3,000–5,000 pairs on Réunion and fewer than 100 individuals on Europa (reviewed by Brooke 2004), though it is thought there are many more breeding colonies on other islands in the Pacific. The population seems to be stable. Tropical shearwater The tropical shearwater ("Puffinus bailloni") is a seabird in the family Procellariidae formerly considered conspecific with Audubon's shearwater ("Puffinus lherminieri"). There are five listed subspecies of the tropical shearwater: The tropical shearwater is found in the tropical parts of the western Indian Ocean from east Africa to southern India and in similar regions of the Pacific from