shearwater
noun
shear·wa·ter
| \ ˈshir-ˌwȯ-tər
, -ˌwä-\
, -ˌwä-\
Definition of shearwater
: any of numerous oceanic birds (especially genus Puffinus) that are related to the petrels and usually skim close to the waves in flight
Examples of shearwater in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Like nearly all seabirds, shearwaters are only on land to breed and raise young. — Stephen Leahy, National Geographic, "Seabirds that eat plastic—and live—have major health problems," 2 Aug. 2019 Offshore: Small flocks of red-necked phalaropes, parasitic and pomarine jaegers, roseate terns, and larger groups of storm-petrels and shearwaters numbering into the hundreds were seen from Jeffrey’s Ledge. — BostonGlobe.com, "Bird sightings," 4 Aug. 2019 Tropic birds, shearwaters, petrels, terns, boobies, and other birds of the open ocean roost and forage on sargassum mats. — David Doubilet, National Geographic, "Life in the North Atlantic depends on this floating seaweed," 12 June 2019 Forktail storm petrels, fulmars, shearwaters, kittiwakes, auklets and puffins also died. — Dan Joling, The Seattle Times, "Pace of Bering Sea changes startles scientists," 16 Apr. 2019 Officials recorded deaths of forktail storm petrels, fulmars, shearwaters, kittiwakes, auklets and puffins. — Dan Joling, The Seattle Times, "Alaska seabird deaths continue trend tied to warming ocean," 11 Aug. 2018 Keep your eyes peeled for rare wildlife such as the Balearic shearwater and Lilford’s wall lizard. — Benjamin Kemper, Condé Nast Traveler, "Spain’s Secret Islands," 14 Feb. 2018 Sightings from Race Point in Provincetown included a mix of lingering winter birds like Pacific loon, Iceland gulls, and snowy owl, along with new spring arrivals like parasitic jaegers, common terns, a roseate tern, and sooty shearwaters. — BostonGlobe.com, "Bird sightings on Cape Cod," 7 May 2018 All those birds, incuding boobies, frigatebirds, noddies, shearwaters and terns, poop. — Jason Daley, Smithsonian, "Coral Reefs Need Fewer Rats and More Bird Poo," 12 July 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'shearwater.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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