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
Wildlife of Morocco endemic bird species, the northern bald ibis ("Geronticus eremita") occurs here, and there are about 12 globally endangered species; the white-headed duck ("Oxyura leucocephala"), the Balearic shearwater ("Puffinus mauretanicus"), the northern bald ibis, the Egyptian vulture ("Neophron percnopterus"), the lappet-faced vulture ("Torgos tracheliotos"), the hooded vulture ("Necrosyrtes monachus"), the white-backed vulture ("Gyps africanus"), the Rüppell's vulture ("Gyps rueppelli"), the sociable lapwing ("Vanellus gregarius"), the slender-billed curlew ("Numenius tenuirostris"), the great knot ("Calidris tenuirostris") and the saker falcon ("Falco cherrug"). Other birds with restricted ranges in north Africa include the Levaillant's woodpecker ("Picus vaillantii"), the Moussier's redstart ("Phoenicurus moussieri") and the