Lost and Found

Blogger: Campaign Manager for the NZ Storm Petrel, Brent Stephenson.

NZ Storm Petrel, Brent Stephenson

It’s fitting for me to be the campaign manager for the NZ Storm Petrel – because, well, I helped to put them back on the map.

Considered extinct for more than 150 years, this species was only described from three specimens collecting dust in northern hemisphere museums.

Variously considered as a ‘form’ of Wilson’s storm-petrel, through to its own distinctive species, it was one of those enigmatic seabirds almost unknown to the layman – that was until January 2003 when it burst back onto the scene.

During a pelagic birding trip off Whitianga organised by myself and Sav Saville from Wrybill Birding Tours, NZ we encountered one at sea.

Further sightings in the Hauraki Gulf during November 2003 by Bob Flood and Bryan Thomas (two UK based birders) really put the species back on the map, and in early 2004 a film crew from 3 News put together footage that was shown as the lead story on the 6pm News!

How’s that for a bird! In late 2005/early 2006 four birds were captured, allowing confirmation that they were in fact the same as those dusty museum specimens, and were a distinct species, perhaps less related to Wilson’s storm-petrel than previously thought.

Ongoing research to discover where they breed and population size has failed to provide any clues, so there is still much to learn about this amazing bird. However, to cap it all off we now take day trips into the Hauraki Gulf during the summer and see this tiny, robin-sized seabird on almost every trip…an ‘extinct’ bird now found less than 100kms from New Zealand’s largest city!