---
title: "One of the world’s least known seabirds, the ACAP-listed Spectacled Petrel, gets painted for conservation"
---

# One of the world’s least known seabirds, the ACAP-listed Spectacled Petrel, gets painted for conservation

![Lee Mitchelson Spectacled Petrel Mixed media 8 x 10 Peter Ryan](https://www.acap.aq/images/WAD2021/Lee_Mitchelson_Spectacled_Petrel_Mixed_media_8_x_10_Peter_Ryan.jpg) 

 *Spectacled Petrel by USA-based [Lee Mitchelson](https://www.leemitchelsonart.com/) who creates “traditional realism animal art”, mixed media.  “The details of the bird and plants were done in acrylic washes and Prismacolor coloured pencil”*

 [https://www.leemitchelsonart.com/](https://www.leemitchelsonart.com/)With ACAP’s second collaboration [“Painting Petrels in Peril”](https://www.acap.aq/latest-news/3909-abun-project-35-painting-petrels-in-peril-gets-going-today) with ABUN ([Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature](https://www.facebook.com/ABUN4Nature)) coming to an end after two months in a couple of days, it’s pleasing to report that so far over 90 artworks have been received with all nine ACAP-listed petrels and shearwaters being depicted.  A wrap up of ABUN’s 35th Project supporting conservation efforts will follow next month but here’s a taster of some of the works created for the [Vulnerable](http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/22728437) and little-known Spectacled Petrel *Procellaria conspicillata*, endemic to the South Atlantic’s [Inaccessible Island](https://www.acap.aq/news/news-archive/60-2013-news-archive/1294-acap-breeding-sites-no-2-inaccessible-island-tristan-da-cunha-group).  Enjoy!

 ![Lea Finke Spectacled Petrel Charcoal chalk and sanguine Peter Ryan](https://www.acap.aq/images/WAD2021/Lea_Finke_Spectacled_Petrel_Charcoal_chalk_and_sanguine_Peter_Ryan.jpg)

 *Spectacled Petrel by [Lea Finke](https://leafinke.de/); charcoal, chalk and sanguine*

 ![Marion Schön Spectacled Petrel Peter Ryan](https://www.acap.aq/images/WAD2021/Marion_Schön_Spectacled_Petrel_Peter_Ryan.jpg)

 *Spectacled Petrel and chick by Marion Schön; there are practically no photographs of chicks of this species so some artistic license had to be used*

 ![Helen Worthington Spectacled Petrel water colour Peter Ryan](https://www.acap.aq/images/WAD2021/Helen_Worthington_Spectacled_Petrel_water_colour_Peter_Ryan.jpg)

 *Spectacled Petrel by [Helen Worthington](https://abun4nature.org/helen-worthington/), water colour*

 ![LynneWaters Spectacled Petrel watercolour Peter Ryan](https://www.acap.aq/images/WAD2021/LynneWaters_Spectacled_Petrel_watercolour_Peter_Ryan.jpg)

 *Spectacled Petrel by [Lynne Waters](https://www.lynnegriffey.com), watercolour*

 View a [similar collection](https://www.acap.aq/latest-news/3934-painting-petrels-in-peril-shows-southern-giant-petrels-are-the-most-popular-subject) of ABUN’s Southern Giant Petrel *Macronectes giganteus* art.

 See selected albatross artwork from the [first ABUN/ACAP collaboration](https://www.acap.aq/world-albatross-day/images-and-artwork/76-artists-biologists-unite-for-nature-and-acap-collaborate-over-world-albatross-day-2020) early last year that had 77 artists producing no less than 324 paintings and line drawings in support of the inaugural [World Albatross Day](https://www.acap.aq/world-albatross-day/wad2020-eradicating-island-pests)on 19 June.

 With thanks to Kitty Harvill, ABUN Co-founder, the contributing artists, and Peter Ryan, practically the only person who has studied the Spectacled Petrel at its breeding site, for his photographs that inspired the artists.

 *John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 22 February 2021*