NZ Petrel Rediscovered

Forest and Bird, Issue 312, 1 May 2004, Page 4

NZ Petrel Rediscovered

elieved extinct for more 150 years, the New Zealand storm petrel has been rediscovered in waters off the Coromandel and the Hauraki Gulf. The New Zealand storm petrel, provisionally Oceanites maorianus, was previously known only from fossil remains and three specimens found in the nineteenth century. The birds were first reported in January 2003, when members of a New Zealand birdwatching tour saw a strange black-and-white storm petrel while looking for seabirds out of Whitianga on the Bay or Plenty coast of the Coromandel Peninsula. The birds were photographed by a New Zealand ornithologist, Brent Stephenson, and

arguments began over what they could be. A further sighting last November produced more photographic evidence. This time two British ornithologists chartered a boat and laid a trail of fish scraps just north of Little Barrier Island, a wildlife sanctuary on the outer Hauraki Gulf. The scraps attracted 10-20 small petrels. The arguments over their form continued: it was decided the birds were neither the black-bellied storm petrel Fregetta tropica, nor the whitebellied storm petrel Fregetta grallaria. The photographic evidence led the birdwatchers, Bob Flood and Bryan Thomas, to compare the birds with records of an ‘extinct’? New Zealand storm petrel. The ‘mystery birds had a slighter

build and structure to the other storm petrels. New Zealand storm petrels have since been seen by other birdwatching parties searching offshore. ‘Presumably the species has managed to survive on a predator-free island, possibly in the Hauraki Gulf; says Barry Weeber, a senior conservation officer with Forest and Bird. ‘A priority now is to find out exactly where these birds are breeding, assess and monitor

their population, and put in place appropriate conservation measures.’ Further details and photographs may be found on the internet at www.wrybilltours.com and in a report by Bob Flood and Brent Stephenson, on the website of Birdlife International, with which Forest and Bird is affiliated as the New Zealand member. Try: www. birdlife.org/news/news/20 04/02/ nz storm-petrel.html