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Balearic Shearwaters are medium-sized shearwaters. What distinguishes their plumage from that of other shearwaters is a lack of contrast. Apart from the Sooty Shearwater, all other species of shearwaters found in Europe have, with minor deviations, dark upperparts and white underparts. The Balearic Shearwater does have almost homogenously dark-grey upperparts, but its underparts are not plain-white. The head is brownish grey, as are the "arm pits" and the vent and parts of the belly. Apart from dark brownish-grey fringes (and the arm pits mentioned above), the centres of the underwings are the brightest part of the plumage. This mix of shades of brownish-grey gives the species a bit of a messy look, which is distinctive. Compared to other species of shearwaters, they also look dumpy, with a strong body build and relatively short, broad wings.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Balearic Shearwater is available HERE .

Cory's Shearwater is a species of the Mediterranean Sea, the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. At sea their distribution is poorly studied. Sighting reports near coastlines range from the Atlantic island groups off western Africa and the north-western African coastline in the South to southern Scandinavia and the British Isles in the North.

In Europe, Balearic Shearwaters are present all year round. They breed on islands and coastal cliffs of the Balearic Islands. The rest of the year they are at sea, mostly in the western Mediterranean, with only a few sighting reports from the eastern Mediterranean. They are found around Iberia, the Gulf of Biscay, around the British Isles and along the North Sea coastline, to about the Kattegat and Skaggerak straits.

During the breeding season Balearic Shearwaters have a strong preference for rocky islands, cliffs and coastlines. During the rest of the year they are basically always on or above the open sea.

J. Pires reports spotting a single Balearic Shearwater at Cabo Raso, Cascais, near Lisbon, Portugal, in June 2022. Others were found during a seawatch at Papoa, Peniche, Leiria, Portugal, in January 2023. All sighting and photographic information presented on this page has kindly been contributed by J. Pires.