Black Petrel chick by Maureen Bennetts of ABUN for ACAP, after a photograph by Biz Bell

The Live Ocean Foundation is working to help conserve the ACAP-listed and Vulnerable Black Petrel Procellaria parkinsoni, endemic to just two islands off New Zealand’s North Island.  With only around 5000 breeding pairs remaining, the Black Petrel is considered to be one of New Zealand’s most at-risk seabirds, facing threats from fishing bycatch, predation, light pollution and habitat loss.  The project wishes to raise funds for 20 GPS trackers to follow fledgling Black Petrels on their first migration and uncover why so few return.  

“This project aims to reverse the decline of the tākoketai black petrel population through tracking their migration, international collaboration, and advocacy.  By supporting long-term research, developing mitigation strategies, and building partnerships across the Pacific Flyway, Live Ocean and its partners aim to rebuild the population to enable future translocation into historic habitats.”

Biz Bell of Wildlife Management International writes “The ultimate goal is to chart a course for recovery and protection of this on the brink species, so that we might see their return to some former nesting sites right around the North Island.”

You can support the project by making a donation here.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 11 December 2025

 
Mike Bell and Dave Bell hand feed a translocated Sooty Shearwater, photograph by Kathryn Richards

The following account from New Zealand about a translocated Sooty Shearwater Ardenna grisea travelling 1265 km to breed is taken verbatim from the Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu website.

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An unexpected discovery on Whenua Hou/Codfish Island has revealed some interesting and unexpected behaviours of tītī (also known as sooty shearwaters or muttonbirds).

In October, Te Arawhetu Waipoua (Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngā Rauru) was assisting the Bioeconomy Science Institute: Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research Group by checking for tītī on Whenua Hou that had been tagged with tracking devices during the 2023 and 2024 breeding seasons.

“I was checking the burrows for certain birds with trackers at night-time and there were a bunch of birds on the surface,” Te Arawhetu says.

Te Arawhetu picked up one of the banded birds and says that, on checking the ID on the band, she was surprised to discover that it was a Chatham Island bird.

“I was under the impression that they have a strong homing instinct so this discovery was unexpected,” she says.

Whenua Hou Komiti Chair Tāne Davis says that the find is a significant one which adds to the collective mātauranga (knowledge) about tītī.

“We didn’t realise that the manu (birds) interacted between islands of such distance,” Tāne says.

“This discovery highlights the separate but related work that Chatham Islands whānau and Kāi Tahu whānau have been doing on our respective islands and reflects the connection between our peoples,” he says.

From the Chatham Islands to Whenua Hou/Codfish Island

The Chatham Islands tītī was banded as a chick in 2021, when birds were translocated from the Nature Reserve Island Rangatira/Hokorereoro to the Point Gap Sanctuary in a project led by the Chatham Islands Taiko Trust.  The aim was to repopulate the edges of the cliff in this predator-fenced sanctuary.

Mike Bell, ornithologist and current Trustee on the Chatham Islands Landscape Restoration Trust, was one of those involved with hand-rearing the tītī chicks until they fledged.

“The thinking was these chicks would return as adults to the Gap and then breed themselves, so it’s fascinating a bird has been found all the way down at Whenua Hou!” he says.

“Our knowledge about seabirds is growing all the time, and supports our understanding of the important role that they play in creating a nutrient cycle between islands and the marine environments that surround them.”

The Chathams tītī is about five years old and when found on Whenua Hou, it had apparently paired up with a much older local tītī, which had been banded on Whenua Hou in 2001 as an adult, so is estimated to be at least 28 years old.

Liz Tuanui, Chair of the Chatham Islands Taiko Trust, says this is fantastic news.

“A bird showing up down there reminds us of the southern pacific seabird ecosystem our islands are part of.

“It also shows that although sometimes birds you translocate may not return to the site, you’ve still fostered a bird that’s fledged successfully and gone on to breed elsewhere. In our current seabird environment, every chick that fledges is a success.”

The Chatham Islands, Rakiura/Stewart Island and Maukahuka/Auckland Island have been described as a "seabird triangle”. Earlier in 2025, the three islands became part of the Island-Ocean Connection Challenge (IOCC), a global conservation initiative which aims to restore and rewild 40 globally significant island-ocean ecosystems by 2030.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 10 December 2025

 Balearic Shearwater, paper collage by Ellyn Lentz of ABUN for ACAP, after a photograph by Pep Arcos

Marina Ramírez-Bal (Marine Research, Basque Research and Technology Alliance, Pasaia, Spain) and colleagues have published open access in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation on the migratory patterns of the Critically Endangered Balearic Shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Understanding the migratory patterns of declining species is essential to guide targeted conservation efforts.  We studied the migratory dynamics of the critically endangered Balearic shearwater (Puffinus mauretanicus) using geolocator data spanning 88 annual cycles from 53 individuals tracked between 2017 and 2022.  Breeding birds were tagged at colonies across their main breeding islands in the Balearic archipelago (Ibiza, Mallorca and Menorca).  Post-breeding movements revealed distinct migratory routes: all individuals from Ibiza and Mallorca (n = 78) migrated to the Atlantic, whereas 80 % of those from Menorca (n = 10) remained within the Mediterranean.  Among Atlantic migrants, 54 % established core non-breeding areas in the Bay of Biscay, 41 % in the Western Iberia, and 5 % in the Gulf of Cadiz.  Of the 27 individuals tracked across multiple years, 89 % consistently returned to the same non-breeding area, demonstrating strong site fidelity.  Duration of stay in these regions ranged from one to seven months, with earlier arrivals typically remaining longer.  Migration timing was influenced by breeding success: failed breeders departed approximately one month earlier than successful ones.  These results underscore the importance of long-term monitoring programmes in capturing individual-level migratory patterns.  By revealing consistent use of specific non-breeding areas, such programmes help identify sites that are repeatedly important across both space and time.  Enabled by biologging technology, these insights are invaluable for the conservation of declining species.  Site-based conservation actions focused on key Atlantic areas could deliver tangible benefits during the non-breeding season.”

With thanks to Richard Phillips.

Reference:

Ramírez-Bal, M., García-Barón, I., García, D., Arcos, J.M., Gemma Carrasco, G., Lewin, P., Delord, K. & Louzao, M. 2025.  Individual migratory patterns of the critically endangered Balearic shearwater: A multi-colony and multi-year study in the NE Atlantic.  Global Ecology and Conservation 65 e03989.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 09 December 2025

 Beauchêne Island hosts the world’s second largest colony of Black-browed Albatrosses, photograph by Anton Wolfaardt

Evidence of repeated unusual mortality events affecting Black-browed Albatrosses Thalassarche melanophris have been reported from Beauchêne Island, part of the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)* in the South Atlantic, including more than 40 carcasses observed this 2025/2026 summer and hundreds of skeletons from previous years.  Collected samples have now been confirmed to include the causative agent of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 (bird flu).  Mortality on Beauchêne appears to only be affecting albatrosses – no unusual numbers of carcasses were observed among other species that occur on the island, including penguins, cormorants, caracaras and sealions present on the island – and to be concentrated to a few specific parts of the colony.

 
Tens of fresh carcasses, like the one depicted here,and hundreds of skeletons of Black-browed Albatrosses were found on Beauchêne Island, photograph by Amandine Gamble

 A scientific team from Cornell University (USA), Montpellier Université (France), University of Tasmania (Australia) and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (UK) on board SY Le Sourire collected additional samples for further analysis at Cornell University aimed at characterizing the plausible source(s) of introduction of the virus.  Additional samples were collected from live animals to assess the true extent of the outbreak(s) and consequent immunity levels in the population.

Amandine Gamble collects samples from a dead Black-browed Albatross on Beauchêne Island, photograph by Megan Tierney

Beauchêne hosts the World’s second largest colony of Black-browed Albatrosses, with an estimate of 109 000 pairs.  The largest colony, on Steeple Jason Island, Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)*, was affected by bird flu in 2023/2024, and had a significant reduction of breeding pairs the following year.  The recurrence of mortality events affecting breeding birds in these key populations raises concern for the species and highlights the urgent need for continued monitoring that is as exhaustive as possible in terms of surveyed species and locations.

With thanks to Patricia Serafini.

Amandine Gamble, Member, ACAP High Pathogenicity H5N1 Avian Influenza Intersessional Group, Department of Public and Ecosystem Health, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA, 08 December 2025