Supposedly 'extinct' petrel seen off coast

By PHILIP ENGLISH


A small nocturnal seabird thought to be extinct for more than 100 years has been seen in the Hauraki Gulf and off the Coromandel Peninsula.

One of the birds was seen in January and last month two British ornithologists saw a flock of up to 20 of the birds near Little Barrier Island.

The rediscovery of the New Zealand storm petrel, or Oceanites maorianus, has set the bird-watching world alight because finding supposedly extinct birds is so rare.

In recent years such rediscoveries - the takahe in 1948 and the Chatham Islands taiko and Campbell Island teal in the 1970s - have attracted great excitement.

Scientific confirmation of the return of the petrel is still awaited. The rare birds committee of the New Zealand Ornithological Society will have to be satisfied the bird, just 20cm long, is not a colour variation of a similar species.

But ornithologists who have compared digital photographs of the bird with the three remaining skin specimens in London and Paris museums taken in the 1800s are confident the petrel has survived.

It is possible predator elimination from one of the many islands in the Hauraki Gulf or off the Coromandel Peninsula may have resulted in a population surviving.

The rediscovery could also be explained by a rise in bird watching.

The curator of birds at the Auckland Museum, Dr Brian Gill, said if it were true, the discovery was exciting.

"It's a bit puzzling. There is a lot of bird-watching activity in Auckland.

"Lots of birds washed up in storms are regularly surveyed and have been for many decades.

"It's a bit strange they haven't turned up already. However, you have to keep an open mind."

But New Zealander Brent Stephenson, who photographed one bird while on a voyage off Whitianga in January, has no doubts.

"The general consensus is that it is what we think it is. We are completely confident it is."

He said that he and colleague Sav Saville were surprised that more of the birds would be recorded so promptly by Britons Bob Flood and Bryan Thomas after his sighting in January.

Mr Stephenson said the next step was finding where the birds lived, which would be difficult as they were nocturnal.