Pycroft's Petrel
Pterodroma pycrofti
Small gadfly petrel. Gray upperparts and head, with darker “M” across wings. Underside white, with thin dark wing edge leading into a short diagonal bar cutting into the underwing. Main colonies breed on Mercury, Hen and Chickens, Poor Knights, and Ririwha Islands in New Zealand. Forages in warmer waters off the northern North Island. After breeding, migrates to the central North and Southwest Pacific. Cook’s Petrel is larger and paler but hard to differentiate at sea. Gould’s Petrel has a darker head, giving it a capped appearance, and more extensive dark on the underwing.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Pterodroma pycrofti
- Authority
- Falla, 1933
- Order
- Procellariiformes
- Family
- Procellariidae
- Genus
- Pterodroma
Range and habitat
The breeding habitat of the Pycroft's petrel is temperate forests with soft soils on offshore islands.
- Breeding range
- PO : islets off ne North I. (New Zealand)
- Non-breeding range
- to c, ne Pacific
- Migration
- Complete migrants
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.
- Population trend
- rising
Photos
Distribution
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