Casual off California. Dark morph adult is brown overall with pale-based flight feathers, flesh-colored legs, and thin black bill. Light morph, less frequent in North America, is mostly white below with dark flight feathers, head, and upperparts. Wedge-shaped tail usually held closed; difficult to see tail shape in the field. In typically slow, soaring flight, holds wings angled back at the wrists.

Length: 43 (cm) Wingspan: 101 (cm)

Habitat:

Open ocean, rarely seen from shore.

Behavior:

Nests colonially on oceanic islands, laying one egg inside burrow. At sea, a strong flier; aerodynamic flight uses air currents off waves. Sometimes follows boats to scavenge scraps.

Feeding:

Plunge-dives, swims underwater, or picks food from water's surface; eats mostly fish but also squid, crustaceans, other small aquatic organisms, and scraps.