---
title: "155 500 pairs of White-chinned Petrels call New Zealand’s Disappointment Island home"
---

# 155 500 pairs of White-chinned Petrels call New Zealand’s Disappointment Island home

Kalinka Rexer-Huber ([Department of Zoology](http://www.otago.ac.nz/zoology/index.html), University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand) and colleagues have published in the journal [Polar Biology](http://link.springer.com/journal/300) on a population survey of the ACAP-listed White-chinned Petrel *Procellaria aequinoctialis* on [Disappointment Island](http://www.acap.aq/en/news/latest-news/1724-acap-breeding-site-no-69-disappointment-island-auckland-islands-home-of-the-white-capped-albatross?highlight=WyJkaXNhcHBvaW50bWVudCIsImRpc2FwcG9pbnRtZW50J3MiLCJubyIsIidubyJd) in the sub-Antarctic Auckland Island group.

 “The white-chinned petrel *Procellaria aequinoctialis* is one of the most frequently observed seabird species captured in fisheries bycatch, yet some populations remain virtually unstudied.  The size of the breeding population on the sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands, New Zealand, is unknown.  Disappointment Island is thought to be the main white-chinned petrel breeding site in the Auckland Islands, and maybe also in the New Zealand region, and has never had introduced mammalian predators.  We estimated the white-chinned petrel breeding population size taking into account the detection probability of burrows via distance sampling and the burrow occupancy rate.  Eighty line transects were distributed over the island, with a total line length of 1600 m.  Burrows were patchily distributed and most abundant in dense megaherb communities.  White-chinned petrel burrow densitywas 654 burrows/ha (95 % CI 528–809 burrows/ha), with burrow detection probability varying among vegetation communities from 0.28 ± 0.02 to 0.43 ± 0.02 (±SE). Mean burrow occupancy was 0.73 ± 0.03.  We document an estimated total of 155,500 (125,600–192,500) breeding pairs of white-chinned petrels on Disappointment Island during mid incubation in early January 2015.  The relatively high occupancy and density of burrows suggest that Disappointment Island is a key breeding site for white-chinned petrels.”

  ![](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Islands/Disappointment Island Nov-Dec 2008 Paul Sagar s.jpg)

 Disappointment Island, photograph by Paul Sagar

 ![](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Petrels/W/White_chinned/White-chinned Petrels Antipodes Dave Boyle.jpg)

 White-chinned Petrels, photograph by David Boyle

 With thanks to Kalinka Rexer-Huber.

 **Reference:**

  

 Rexer-Huber, K., Parker, G.C., Sagar, P.M. & Thompson, D.R. 2016.  White-chinned petrel population estimate, Disappointment Island (Auckland Islands).  [*Polar Biology*. doi:10.1007/s00300-016-2031-x](http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00300-016-2031-x).

 *John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 06 September 2016*