How to Use shearwater in a Sentence

shearwater

noun
  • Like nearly all seabirds, shearwaters are only on land to breed and raise young.
    — Stephen Leahy, National Geographic, 2 Aug. 2019
  • The island is a nesting site for rare species of petrels, shearwaters and terns.
    — Evan Halper, latimes.com, 18 Sep. 2017
  • Keep your eyes peeled for rare wildlife such as the Balearic shearwater and Lilford’s wall lizard.
    — Benjamin Kemper, Condé Nast Traveler, 14 Feb. 2018
  • And Shearwaters aren’t the only birds that use a sense of smell to navigate.
    — Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 30 Aug. 2017
  • Some years 90 percent of shearwater fledglings were found to have at least one piece of plastic in their stomachs.
    — Stephen Leahy, National Geographic, 2 Aug. 2019
  • Audubon’s shearwater, a seabird named for John James Audubon, also will get a new name.
    — Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 6 Nov. 2023
  • In years past, shearwaters have been found beached in large numbers in other parts of the United States.
    — Joe Trezza, New York Times, 14 July 2017
  • Seabirds that are strong flyers; gulls, shearwaters, petrels, and jaegers; will usually exit the storm first.
    — Taylor Piephoff, charlotteobserver, 22 Sep. 2017
  • 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
  • Cory's shearwaters are long-lived, rarely breeding successfully before age nine.
    — Jason G. Goldman, Scientific American, 1 May 2020
  • Tropic birds, shearwaters, petrels, terns, boobies, and other birds of the open ocean roost and forage on sargassum mats.
    — David Doubilet, National Geographic, 12 June 2019
  • All those birds, incuding boobies, frigatebirds, noddies, shearwaters and terns, poop.
    — Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 12 July 2018
  • The identification of plasticosis in shearwaters shows that there is no time to waste.
    — Matthew Savoca, The Conversation, 21 Mar. 2023
  • Arctic terns stole the world record from the shearwater after researchers finally created a tracking device that was light enough to use on them.
    — Discover Magazine, 4 May 2011
  • And amid a tornado of shearwaters, murres, gulls and pelicans, all working on the hapless baitfish pushed to the surface by the salmon.
    — Bill Monroe, oregonlive, 4 Aug. 2023
  • Uesaka says that the footage comes from foraging trips in which the shearwaters form large flocks, with some birds resting on the surface while others fly—and poop—overhead.
    — Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 18 Aug. 2025
  • This is impressive on an island that, until 50 years ago, relied upon the greasy-gray Balearic shearwater seabird for protein.
    — Maya Boyd, Condé Nast Traveler, 1 Aug. 2022
  • As a result, boobies, shearwaters, petrels, and other seabirds have recovered, and island creatures from lizards to stick insects have reclaimed their homes.
    — Byelizabeth Pennisi, science.org, 19 Sep. 2024
  • Forktail storm petrels, fulmars, shearwaters, kittiwakes, auklets and puffins also died.
    — Dan Joling, The Seattle Times, 16 Apr. 2019
  • Two nights are spent on Stewart, whose rain forests and coastal areas harbor a wealth of birds, including albatrosses, shearwaters and several species of penguins.
    — Phil Marty, chicagotribune.com, 1 May 2018
  • Officials recorded deaths of forktail storm petrels, fulmars, shearwaters, kittiwakes, auklets and puffins.
    — Dan Joling, The Seattle Times, 11 Aug. 2018
  • The researchers behind today’s paper dissected 85 northern fulmars and Cory’s shearwaters caught in the wild.
    — WIRED, 27 Mar. 2023
  • Dolby six-channel surround sound blasts from two 4-foot-high Shearwater main speakers, a floor subwoofer, center-channel speaker, and rear speakers built into the ceiling.
    — Wired Staff, WIRED, 1 Nov. 2002
  • 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
  • The islands are also protected habitats for Manx shearwaters, northern fulmar, black-legged kittiwake, razorbill, guillemot, peregrine falcon and storm petrel.
    — Julia Blakely, Smithsonian, 11 Jan. 2018
  • Also seen was a manx shearwater near Scituate Light, as well as eight pomarine jaegers in Scituate Harbor.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 30 Oct. 2021
  • On Burgess Island, New Zealand, for example, common diving petrels and little shearwaters returned within two decades after rats were removed.
    — Ethan Freedman, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 May 2024
  • 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
  • Birds abound across the shores of Duiker Island, with Sandwich terns, giant petrels and sooty shearwaters being just a few of the creatures that might make an appearance, while lucky guests might see a penguin or two bobbing along the water as well.
    — Jared Ranahan, Forbes.com, 28 Aug. 2025
  • The team also found, not surprisingly, that the birds most attracted to the DMS odor are the albatrosses, petrels, and shearwaters that are most severely affected by plastic consumption.
    — Laura Parker, National Geographic, 9 Nov. 2016

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'shearwater.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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