--- title: "Marine ornithologist who studies ACAP-listed albatrosses and petrels is appointed Director of the prestigious Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology" --- # Marine ornithologist who studies ACAP-listed albatrosses and petrels is appointed Director of the prestigious Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology Professor Peter Ryan has been appointed Director of the [Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology](http://www.fitzpatrick.uct.ac.za/) at South Africa’s [University of Cape Town](http://www.uct.ac.za/) with effect from the beginning of the month.  Peter has been Acting Director of the “Fiztitute” since the untimely passing last year of its previous Director, Philip Hockey. Peter is a graduate of the University of Cape Town (UCT).  Following a First Class Zoology Honours he completed his MSc (on plastic pollution in seabirds) and his PhD (on the endemic finches of Triston da Cunha’s [Inaccessible Island](http://www.acap.aq/index.php/en/news/latest-news/1294-acap-breeding-sites-no-2-inaccessible-island-tristan-da-cunha-group)) at UCT.  After a post-doc in California, he returned to South Africa to take up a lectureship post in the Institute in 1993. ![](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/People/Peter Ryan Stoltenhoff Norman Glass s.jpg) Peter Ryan poses with the flag of Tristan da Cunha on the top of [Stoltenthoff Islet](http://www.acap.aq/index.php/en/news/latest-news/1590-acap-breeding-site-no-56-middle-and-stoltenhoff-islands-the-least-modified-habitats-in-the-tristan-group) with [Nightingale Island](http://www.acap.aq/index.php/en/news/latest-news/1305-acap-breeding-sites-no-4-nightingale-island-tristan-da-cunha-south-atlantic)in the background Photograph by Tristan Islander Norman Glass For the last two decades, Peter has been in charge of the FitzPatrick Institute’s research programmes on ACAP-listed and other seabirds at South Africa’s [Prince Edward Islands](http://www.acap.aq/index.php/en/news/latest-news/1371-acap-breeding-sites-no-27-sub-antarctic-marion-island-a-research-laboratory-for-albatrosses-and-petrels) in the southern Indian Ocean and on the Tristan islands, especially [Gough](http://www.acap.aq/index.php/en/news/latest-news/1322-acap-breeding-sites-no-11-gough-island-south-atlantic-hanging-on-against-the-onslaught-of-its-killer-mice) and Inaccessible, in the South Atlantic, as well as at sea in the Southern Ocean. His long-term research on the endemic and [ACAP-listed](http://www.acap.aq/index.php/en/resources/acap-species2) Spectacled Petrel *Procellaria conspicillata* of Inaccessible has first shown the petrel is specifically distinct from the White-chinned Petrel *P. aequinoctialis*, and then has shown that its population is steadily increasing, allowing it be downlisted from Critically Endangered to [Vulnerable](http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=30027) in 2007 by BirdLife International. ![](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Petrels/S/Spectacled/Ringeyes Peter Ryan s.jpg) ![](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Petrels/S/Spectacled/spectacled_petrel_inaccessible_island_by_peter_ryan.jpg) Spectacled Petrels on Inaccessible Island, photographs by Peter Ryan Peter Ryan has served on the ACAP Advisory Committee’s [Taxonomic Working Group](http://www.acap.aq/index.php/en/documents/working-groups/cat_view/128-english/59-working-groups/61-taxonomy-working-group) since its inception. For more information on Peter Ryan’s ornithological career, including a full publication list [click here](http://www.fitzpatrick.uct.ac.za/docs/peter.html). **Selected Literature:** Reid, T.A., Ronconi, R.A., Cuthbert, R.J. & Ryan, P.G. 2014.  The summer foraging ranges of adult Spectacled Petrels *Procellaria conspicillata.  [Antarctic Science](http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9161255)*[26: 23-32](http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9161255). Ryan, P.G. & Moloney, C.L. 2000.  The status of Spectacled Petrels *Procellaria conspicillata* and other seabirds at Inaccessible Island.  [*Marine Ornithology* ](http://www.marineornithology.org/PDF/28_2/28_2_1.pdf)[28: 93-100](http://www.marineornithology.org/PDF/28_2/28_2_1.pdf)[http://www.marineornithology.org/PDF/28_2/28_2_1.pdf](http://www.marineornithology.org/PDF/28_2/28_2_1.pdf). Ryan, P.G. & Ronconi, R.[A.] 2011.  Continued increase in numbers of Spectacled Petrels *Procellaria conspicillata. [Antarctic Science](http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8324275)*[ ](http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8324275)[23: 332-336.](http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8324275) Ryan, P.G., Dorse, C. & Hilton, G.M. 2006.  The conservation status of the Spectacled Petrel *Procellaria conspicillata.  [Biological Conservation](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320706000978)*[ ](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320706000978)[131: 575-583](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320706000978). *John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 11 March 2014*