Puffinus and cold waters. These tubenose birds fly with stiff wings, and use a shearing flight technique to move across wave fronts with the minimum of active flight. Some small species, such as the Manx shearwater, are cruciform in flight, with their long wings held directly out from their bodies. Many are long-distance migrants, perhaps most spectacularly the sooty and short-tailed shearwaters, which perform migrations of 14,000 km or more each year. "Puffinus" shearwaters come to islands and coastal cliffs only to breed. They are nocturnal at the colonial breeding sites, preferring moonless nights to minimise predation. They nest in burrows
Shearwater Shearwater Shearwaters are medium-sized long-winged seabirds. There are more than 30 species of shearwaters, a few larger ones in the genus "Calonectris" and many smaller species in the genus "Puffinus". The "Procellaria" petrels and "Bulweria" were believed to belong to this group, but are only distantly related based on more recent studies, while the "Pseudobulweria" and "Lugensa" "petrels" are more closely related. The genus "Puffinus" can be divided into a group of small species close to "Calonectris" and a few larger ones more distantly related to both. These birds are most common in temperate and cold waters. They are pelagic