Although locally abundant, Sooty Shearwater is listed as "near threatened" by IUCN citing continuing population declines. This species migrates into the North Pacific from New Zealand. We sometimes see them fairly close to shore along the California coast in late summer. Sooty Shearwaters have one of the longest annual migrations (40,000 miles) from New Zealand and back. Formerly included in the genus Puffinus but moved to Ardenna in the 57th supplement of the AOU Check-List. Canon PowerShot SX50 HS.
References:
Marchant, S.; Higgins, P.J. (eds) 1990. Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic birds. Vol. 1, ratites to ducks. Oxford University Press, Melbourne.
Sagar, P.M. 2013. Sooty shearwater. In Miskelly, C.M. (ed.) New Zealand Birds Online. www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz
Shaffer, S. A. et al. (2006). Migratory shearwaters integrate oceanic resources across the pacific ocean in an endless summer. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 103, 12799–802, doi:10.1073/pnas.0603715103