shearwater
noun
shear·wa·ter ˈshir-ˌwȯ-tər 
-ˌwä-
: any of numerous oceanic birds (especially genus Puffinus) that are related to the petrels and usually skim close to the waves in flight
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web Birds at Race Point in Provincetown included 2 black vultures, 2 Pacific loons, 130 red-throated loons, a Manx shearwater, 11 common murres, 62 razorbills, 9 Iceland gulls, and a merlin. 
BostonGlobe.com, 20 Apr. 2022 Some, such as the great shearwater, were in molt, a vulnerable period when birds shed and regrow feathers. Dean Russell, Smithsonian Magazine, 1 Dec. 2021 Also seen was a manx shearwater near Scituate Light, as well as eight pomarine jaegers in Scituate Harbor. BostonGlobe.com, 30 Oct. 2021 From Georges Island in Boston Harbor, sightings included flyby eight great shearwaters, a Cory’s shearwater, 16 Wilson’s storm-petrels, a whimbrel, a Forster’s tern, 12 roseate terns, and two cliff swallows. BostonGlobe.com, 28 Aug. 2021 But if flocking birds were easily confused in low visibility, which is pretty normal up and down coastal California, then shearwater invasions would be as common as passing rain. Tom Mcnamara, Popular Science, 3 Dec. 2020 To continue the species’ recovery, conservationists are building a fence around a vital and remote nesting area, making the shearwater the first marine bird protected under a national conservation plan. Lindsey Mcginnis, The Christian Science Monitor, 14 Dec. 2020 This is the bird: Ardenna grisea, the sooty shearwater. Tom Mcnamara, Popular Science, 3 Dec. 2020 Cory's shearwaters are long-lived, rarely breeding successfully before age nine. Jason G. Goldman, Scientific American, 1 May 2020 See More
BostonGlobe.com, 20 Apr. 2022 Some, such as the great shearwater, were in molt, a vulnerable period when birds shed and regrow feathers. Dean Russell, Smithsonian Magazine, 1 Dec. 2021 Also seen was a manx shearwater near Scituate Light, as well as eight pomarine jaegers in Scituate Harbor. BostonGlobe.com, 30 Oct. 2021 From Georges Island in Boston Harbor, sightings included flyby eight great shearwaters, a Cory’s shearwater, 16 Wilson’s storm-petrels, a whimbrel, a Forster’s tern, 12 roseate terns, and two cliff swallows. BostonGlobe.com, 28 Aug. 2021 But if flocking birds were easily confused in low visibility, which is pretty normal up and down coastal California, then shearwater invasions would be as common as passing rain. Tom Mcnamara, Popular Science, 3 Dec. 2020 To continue the species’ recovery, conservationists are building a fence around a vital and remote nesting area, making the shearwater the first marine bird protected under a national conservation plan. Lindsey Mcginnis, The Christian Science Monitor, 14 Dec. 2020 This is the bird: Ardenna grisea, the sooty shearwater. Tom Mcnamara, Popular Science, 3 Dec. 2020 Cory's shearwaters are long-lived, rarely breeding successfully before age nine. Jason G. Goldman, Scientific American, 1 May 2020 See More Word History
First Known Use
circa 1671, in the meaning defined above