First record of a Greater Shearwater (Puffinus gravis) in Alaska

The Greater Shearwater (Puffinus gravis) breeds in the southern Atlantic Ocean and disperses after breeding to the North Atlantic. On 3 August 2001, I observed and photographed an unidentified shearwater (Figure 1) in the Gulf of Alaska, about 30 km off the southern coast of Montague Island (59°50' N, 148°00' W). The bird was subsequently identified as a Greater Shearwater. This observation and photographic documentation provides the first Alaska state record (D. Gibson in litt.) and one of very few records for the North Pacific (see Table 1). This is the 464th bird species to be recorded in the state of Alaska.