The Sooty Shearwater (Ardenna grisea) is a powerful, long-distance ocean traveler known for one of the longest migration routes of any bird — spanning over 60,000 km annually. It has a sleek, all-sooty-brown plumage with silvery underwings visible in good light and a slender, dark bill. Built for dynamic soaring, it uses wind currents to glide effortlessly above the ocean waves with minimal wingbeats. Though it breeds in the Southern Hemisphere (mainly on islands around New Zealand, Chile, and the Falklands), it travels across vast oceans and can rarely be spotted in the Arabian Sea or Gulf of Oman as a scarce pelagic visitor. Unlike many terns and gulls, it rarely comes near land outside the breeding season, making any sighting from a boat in UAE waters a significant record for regional birders.