Yelkouan shearwater Menorca. A study of these birds recommended that a combination of morphological characteristics and DNA sequence data should be required at least for scientific purposes to assign individual birds to either species. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the Manx shearwater (see there for more on the "Puffinus puffinus" superspecies). After the first split, it was the nominate subspecies of the so-called "Mediterranean shearwater" for nearly ten more years; it is considered a monotypic species now, as the Balearic form "mauretanicus" has been separated as the Balearic shearwater. The yelkouan shearwater appears to belong to a group of Mediterranean
Saba (IBA AN006 "Saba Coastline") by BirdLife International. Saba is home to about sixty species of birds, many of which are sea birds that use the holes and crevices of the steep cliffs and two small islands for breeding and feed in the waters around the island. Saba’s shoreline is home to the Caribbean’s largest breeding colony of Red-billed tropicbird ("Phaethon aethereus"). The Audubon's Shearwater ("Puffinus lherminieri") is another common bird, and is the national bird of Saba as well as being featured on their coat of arms. Being an island, Saba is home to a number of endemic species including