Newell's shearwater Newell's shearwater The Newell's shearwater or Hawaiian shearwater ("Puffinus newelli") is a seabird belonging to the genus "Puffinus" in the family Procellariidae. It belongs to a confusing group of shearwaters which are difficult to identify and whose classification is controversial. It was formerly treated as a subspecies of the Manx shearwater ("Puffinus puffinus") and is now often placed in Townsend's shearwater ("Puffinus auricularis"). It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands It is a fairly small shearwater, in length. The wing is long and the tail is . The bird weighs . The upperparts are black with a brown tinge while
Procellariidae with "Pseudobulweria" being phylogenetically closer to the "Puffinus" shearwaters than the "Pterodroma" gadfly petrels, and "Aphrodroma" (the Kerguelen petrel) possibly being closely related to the shearwaters or the fulmars. The prions, according to Nunn and Stanley, were among the larger shearwater group. The "Calonectris" shearwaters were placed close to the two "Puffinus" clades (closer to the Puffinus, or small, clade) and both were distant to the "Procellaria" shearwaters. The relationships between the genera and within the genera are still the subject of debate, with researchers lumping and splitting the species and genera within the family and arguing about the position