Starting off on the wrong wing: a Black Petrel goes west

Where is it now?  Rua, the Black Petrel’s journey to Australia as of 02 August 2026

ACAP Latest News regularly reports on the fortunes of the ACAP-listed and globally Vulnerable Black Petrel Procellaria parkinsoni that only breeds on New Zealand’s Little Barrier and Great Barrier Islands.  Ongoing research by Wildlife Management International shows that fledglings usually head eastwards to waters off Pacific South America, to return some years later to recruit as breeding birds.  The low level of return of banded juveniles is a serious cause of concern.

Overly fanciful?  Rua taking it easy on Australia’s Gold Coast

But not every Black Petrel fledgling “gets the message” and one satellite-tracked bird, named Rua, has instead headed west to the waters off Queensland, Australia, having according to WMI’s Managing Director, Biz Bell, “a very relaxing time.”  See its track here.

Overall, the latest batch of tracked fledglings are currently a bit more spread out in the southern Pacific as Biz reports: “This season, chicks have ranged much further north than ever recorded before.  Some are already foraging off Ecuador and around the Galapagos Islands; others are working their way up and down the Ecuadorian and Peruvian coasts.  A few are still out in the open Pacific, cruising at roughly the same latitude as Guatemala, somewhere between Hawaii and the Pitcairn Island group.”

You can follow the tracked birds, including the errant Rua, here.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels 04 August 2026