Black Petrel

Description:

Medium sized Procellaria Petrel (46 cm, wing span 115 cm). Uniform dark brown/black with black legs and bright yellow bill with black tip.

Habitat:

A rare New Zealand endemic. Breeds on Little Barrier Island in small numbers and since the early 1900's, Great Barrier Island also. Was quite common before this but land predators and especially feral cats all but eradicated the species from the main land and also Little Barrier. When breeding, birds stay in local waters but non breeding birds have been recorded off the east coast of Australia and west into the eastern tropical Pacific off Mexico to Peru and the Galapagos.

Notes:

There are a couple of similar looking species but the Maori name for all of them is Taiko. Tai meaning sea and ko meaning to dig.