| Chatham petrel | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Procellariiformes |
| Family: | Procellariidae |
| Genus: | Pterodroma |
| Species: | P. axillaris |
| Binomial name | |
| Pterodroma axillaris (Salvin, 1893) | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
The Chatham petrel (Pterodroma axillaris) or ranguru (Maori) is a medium-sized, grey, white and black gadfly petrel. It only breeds on the Chatham Islands, New Zealand, and until recently was restricted to the 218-hectare Rangatira or South-East Island.
The Chatham petrel is a medium-sized petrel with a mottled dark-grey and white forehead, dark grey back and upper wings, and white underparts. A black diagonal bar extends from the leading edge of underwing to a black ‘armpit’. The shoulders and upper-wing coverts are a deeper grey giving a dark M pattern across the spread upper wings.
The bill is black and strongly hooked tip. The eye is dark, and the legs and feet are pink, with dark outer toes and webs. The sexes are alike.
Chatham petrels are rarely observed away from the colony; the few at-sea records are from ships in oceanic waters. [2] [3]
Chatham petrels nest in burrows under the forest canopy to which they are generally faithful to over time. Leaves are used as nesting material. Each pair lays a single white egg in December or January and the chicks fledge in May or June.
The population is estimated at 2,000 birds and is classified as nationally vulnerable. [4] Present throughout the Chatham group before the arrival of humans, predation by humans and introduced mammals (rats and cats) and the loss of forest habitat saw the species restricted to Rangatira island. Before conservation efforts began, the size of the Rangatira population was limited by burrow competition with the broad-billed prion Pachyptila vittata, of which an estimated 330,000 pairs inhabit the island.
Conservation efforts for the Chatham petrel started in the late 1980s, the initial focus of which was locating burrows and determining the cause of breeding failure. Once it was determined that burrow competition from broad-billed prions was causing most breeding attempts to fail, attention shifted to protection of burrows and chicks from prion interference. Burrows are located using telemetry - adult birds caught on the surface are fitted with a small transmitter and tracked to their burrows. Burrows are then protected by installing a plastic or wooden artificial burrow (to guard against collapse) and protected from prion entry by the fitting of a neoprene flap over the burrow entrance. Burrows are also blocked over the non-breeding period to ensure they are not occupied by prions during the petrels' winter absence. In the 2005/06 breeding season of the 155 known breeding pairs on Rangatira, 83% were successful in fledging their chick.
The transfer of 200 chicks to a predator-proof fenced area on nearby Pitt Island/Rangiauria over the four years 2002-05 has seen the return of small number of birds to the site and the first breeding occur (with the fledging of 1 chick) in the 2005/06 season and four breeding pairs in 2006/07. The transfer of 200 chicks over four years to a predator-proof fenced site on the South coast of Chatham Island started in April 2008 with the translocation of 47 chicks.
Procellariiformes is an order of seabirds that comprises four families: the albatrosses, the petrels and shearwaters, and two families of storm petrels. Formerly called Tubinares and still called tubenoses in English, procellariiforms are often referred to collectively as the petrels, a term that has been applied to all members of the order, or more commonly all the families except the albatrosses. They are almost exclusively pelagic, and have a cosmopolitan distribution across the world's oceans, with the highest diversity being around New Zealand.
The family Procellariidae is a group of seabirds that comprises the fulmarine petrels, the gadfly petrels, the diving petrels, the prions, and the shearwaters. This family is part of the bird order Procellariiformes, which also includes the albatrosses and the storm petrels.
Zino's petrel or the freira, is a species of small seabird in the gadfly petrel genus, endemic to the island of Madeira. This long-winged petrel has a grey back and wings, with a dark "W" marking across the wings, and a grey upper tail. The undersides of the wings are blackish apart from a triangle of white at the front edge near the body, and the belly is white with grey flanks. It is very similar in appearance to the slightly larger Fea's petrel, and separating these two Macaronesian species at sea is very challenging. It was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the soft-plumaged petrel, P. mollis, but they are not closely related, and Zino's was raised to the status of a species because of differences in morphology, calls, breeding behaviour and mitochondrial DNA. It is Europe's most endangered seabird, with breeding areas restricted to a few ledges high in the central mountains of Madeira.
The magenta petrel, or Chatham Island tāiko, is a small seabird in the gadfly petrel genus, Pterodroma. Found exclusively on Chatham Island, New Zealand it is one of the rarest birds in the world, believed to be extinct for over 100 years before its rediscovery in the 1970s.
The Westland petrel(Procellaria westlandica),, also known as the Westland black petrel, is a moderately large seabird in the petrel family Procellariidae, that is endemic to New Zealand. Described by Robert Falla in 1946, it is a stocky bird weighing approximately 1,100 grams (39 oz), and is one of the largest of the burrowing petrels. It is a dark blackish-brown colour with black legs and feet. It has a pale yellow bill with a dark tip.
The Bermuda petrel is a gadfly petrel. Commonly known in Bermuda as the cahow, a name derived from its eerie cries, this nocturnal ground-nesting seabird is the national bird of Bermuda and can be found pictured on Bermudian currency. It is the second rarest seabird on the planet and a symbol of hope for nature conservation. They are known for their medium-sized body and long wings. The Bermuda petrel has a greyish-black crown and collar, dark grey upper-wings and tail, white upper-tail coverts and white under-wings edged with black, and the underparts are completely white.
The Hawaiian petrel or ʻuaʻu is a large, dark grey-brown and white petrel that is endemic to Hawaiʻi.
Barau's petrel is a medium-sized gadfly petrel from the family Procellariidae. Its main breeding site is the island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean.
Hokorereoro, Rangatira, or South East Island is the third largest island in the Chatham Islands archipelago, and covers an area of 218 hectares. It lies 800 kilometres (497 mi) east of New Zealand's South Island off the south-east coast of Pitt Island, 55 kilometres (34 mi) south-east of the main settlement, Waitangi, on Chatham Island.
The Bonin petrel or nunulu is a seabird in the family Procellariidae. It is a small gadfly petrel that is found in the northwest Pacific Ocean. Its secretive habits, remote breeding colonies and limited range have resulted in few studies and many aspects of the species' biology are poorly known.
The broad-billed prion is a small pelagic seabird in the shearwater and petrel family, Procellariidae. It is the largest prion, with grey upperparts plumage, and white underparts. The sexes are alike. It ranges from the southeast Atlantic to New Zealand mainly near the Antarctic Convergence. In the south Atlantic it breeds on Tristan da Cunha and Gough Island; in the south Pacific it breeds on islands off the south coast of South Island, New Zealand and on the Chatham Islands. It has many other names that have been used such as blue-billed dove-petrel, broad-billed dove-petrel, long-billed prion, common prion, icebird, and whalebird.
The Juan Fernández petrel is a species of seabird in the family Procellariidae. It nests on a single island off the coast of Chile, in the Juan Fernández Archipelago. It was previously classified as a subspecies of the white-necked petrel, which is found in tropical waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Gould's petrel is a species of seabird in the family Procellariidae. The common name commemorates the English ornithologist and bird artist John Gould (1804-1881).
Pycroft's petrel is a species of seabird in the petrel and shearwater family Procellariidae.
Hutton's shearwater or the kaikōura tītī, is a medium-sized ocean-going seabird in the family Procellariidae. Its range is Australian and New Zealand waters, but it breeds only in mainland New Zealand. Its conservation status is Endangered, because there are just two remaining breeding colonies, located in the Seaward Kaikōura Range. Six other shearwater colonies have been wiped out by introduced pigs. Hutton's shearwater is the only seabird in the world that is known to breed in alpine areas. Conservation measures for the bird include community initiatives to rescue birds that crash-land at night on streets in Kaikōura, and the establishment of a protected area on the Kaikōura Peninsula including a predator-proof fence, man-made burrows, and translocating fledglings from the remaining colonies.
The grey-faced petrel is a petrel endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. In New Zealand it is also known by its Māori name ōi and as a muttonbird.
The Tuku Nature Reserve is a nature reserve on Chatham Island, New Zealand, in the Tuku-a-tamatea (Tuku) River Valley in the south-west of the island. The 1238 hectares of land, largely covered with dense native forest, are owned by the New Zealand government and is managed by its Department of Conservation.
Motu Matakohe, also known as Matakohe or Limestone Island, is a 37 ha island in the upper reaches of Whangarei Harbour, just off Onerahi, a seaside suburb of the city of Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand. Used for farming and industry for many years, the island is an example of ecological island restoration by a volunteer community group.
Kerry-Jayne Wilson was a New Zealand biologist and lecturer in ecology at Lincoln University in the Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
