---
title: "Great Shearwater"
description: "Ardenna gravis — Birds. The great shearwater (Ardenna gravis) is a large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/great-shearwater
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Great Shearwater

> Ardenna gravis — Birds. The great shearwater (Ardenna gravis) is a large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae.

- Scientific name: *Ardenna gravis*
- Category: `birds` (Birds)
- Habitats: `sea` (Sea & coast)
- iNaturalist observations: 4650
- Wikidata: [Q27074609](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q27074609)
- iNaturalist taxon: [475120](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/475120)

## Names

- en: Great Shearwater
- de: Kappensturmtaucher
- es: Pardela mayor
- fr: Puffin majeur
- pt: Pardela-de-barrete
- pl: Burzyk wielki

## Countries with the most observations

US (883), CA (362), AR (145), BM (74), PT (39), FR (31), SH (26), TA (26), UY (21), BR (19), ZA (18), IE (15)

## Summary

The great shearwater (Ardenna gravis) is a large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It breeds colonially on rocky islands in the South Atlantic. Outside the breeding season it ranges widely in the Atlantic.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_shearwater

## Photo

![Great Shearwater](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/great-shearwater/medium.jpg)

Photo: Paulo Mascaretti · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/195967037

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/great-shearwater?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).