Pycroft's petrel (''Pterodroma pycrofti'') is a species of

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same envir ...

in the

petrel Petrels are tube-nosed seabirds in the bird order Procellariiformes. Description The common name does not indicate relationship beyond that point, as "petrels" occur in three of the four families within that group (all except the albatross ...

and

shearwater Shearwaters are medium-sized long-winged seabirds in the petrel family Procellariidae. They have a global marine distribution, but are most common in temperate and cold waters, and are pelagic outside the breeding season. Description These t ...

family

Procellariidae The family Procellariidae is a group of seabirds that comprises the fulmarine petrels, the gadfly petrels, the diving petrels, the prions, and the shearwaters. This family is part of the bird order Procellariiformes (or tubenoses), which also ...

Origin

The Pycroft's petrel is a species of gadfly petrel (genus '' Pterodroma''), and is thought to be closely related to the Stejneger's petrel. The species was named after

Arthur Pycroft Arthur Thomas Pycroft (3 September 1875 – 8 November 1971) was a New Zealand naturalist and collector, known especially for his ornithological work. Pycroft worked for the New Zealand Railways Department and became a senior manager, but he r ...

, a naturalist from New Zealand who made the first scientific discovery of the species. The species was described by the New Zealand scientist

Robert Falla Sir Robert Alexander Falla (21 July 1901 – 23 February 1979) was a New Zealand museum administrator and ornithologist. Early life Falla was born in Palmerston North in 1901 to George Falla and his wife, Elizabeth Kirk. As his father was wo ...

Appearance

The Pycroft's petrel is small, measuring in length and weighing between . The

plumage Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...

of the Pycroft petrel is grey and white; the upperparts are grey (with a darker M pattern on the back) and the underparts and forehead are white. It has a faint grey band across the breast and a dark grey patch around the eye.

Habitat

The breeding

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

of the Pycroft's petrel is temperate forests with soft soils on offshore islands.

Reproduction

The species only breeds in New Zealand, nesting on 11 islands off the North Island. Breeding colonies are found on Stephenson Island, the

Poor Knights Islands The Poor Knights Islands ( Māori: ''Tawhiti Rahi)'' are a group of islands off the east coast of the Northland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. They lie to the northeast of Whangarei, and offshore halfway between Bream Head ...

, Hen and Chickens Islands, and

Mercury Islands The Mercury Islands are a group of seven islands off the northeast coast of New Zealand's North Island. They are located off the coast of the Coromandel Peninsula, and northeast of the town of Whitianga. History The Ngāti Karaua (a hapu o ...

. It used to also breed on

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island (, ; Norfuk: ''Norf'k Ailen'') is an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head and about from Lord Howe Island. Together w ...

and

Lord Howe Island Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland ...

, but has since become extinct there. The breeding season begins in October when birds return to their colony; laying is synchronised and happens between 21 November and 10 December. This species lays a single egg in a burrow. The nesting burrows are long and the nesting chamber is lined with leaves. Both parents incubate the egg, with the male taking the first shift. This first incubation shift lasts 10–14 days. Chicks hatch 45 days after laying. Chicks leave the nest in around 80 days after hatching, and are not fed for the last week they are in the nest.

Diet

Little is known about its diet, but it is known to eat squid and crustaceans. Outside the breeding season it is thought to feed in the Central Pacific, and has been recorded as far as Japan, the United States,

United States Minor Outlying Islands The United States Minor Outlying Islands is a statistical designation defined by the International Organization for Standardization's ISO 3166-1 code. The entry code is ISO 3166-2:UM. The minor outlying islands and groups of islands consist ...

, and Wallis and Futuna Islands.

Threats

Chicks and eggs are sometimes eaten by

tuatara Tuatara (''Sphenodon punctatus'') are reptiles endemic to New Zealand. Despite their close resemblance to lizards, they are part of a distinct lineage, the order Rhynchocephalia. The name ''tuatara'' is derived from the Māori language and ...

. The species is threatened by introduced rats, which prey on nesting eggs and nestlings.

Conservation

The species is listed as vulnerable by the IUCN Red List. Efforts to remove rats and other introduced predators from their breeding colonies have resulted in a recovery for this species, and its numbers are now increasing.

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet
{{Taxonbar, from=Q939120 Pycroft's petrel Birds of the Pacific Ocean Pycroft's petrel Pycroft's petrel Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Birds of New Zealand