Tahiti petrel

How it lives

It nests in deep burrows and rock crevices, often high in the mountains, up to about 1,900 m by one source. In New Caledonia, breeding goes on through the year rather than in a single season. Incubation takes about 55 days and raising the chick about 120 days. In one New Caledonia study only 32% of nesting attempts succeeded. Birds nest on a few Pacific islands.

Where it goes

Tahiti petrels spend most of their lives over the open Pacific and come to land only to breed. They prefer warm surface water above about 25 C. Outside breeding they range widely, and the non-breeding range includes Australia, Guam and Micronesia. Vagrants have been recorded in Central and South America, Asia and Oceania.

We only draw a journey on the map when scientists have tracked it or clearly documented it. For this animal we have not found one yet.

Populations

Near Threatened (IUCN, 2018), with a suspected decline and few hard numbers. The world population is put at 10,000 to 20,000 breeding birds, or about 20,000 to 30,000 in total. Two subspecies are recognised: one nests in American Samoa, the Gambier, Marquesas and Society Islands, and the other in New Caledonia and Vanuatu. Breeding groups are reported to be declining, with fewer than 500 pairs in the Marquesas and fewer than 1,000 on Tahiti. At a nickel-mining site in New Caledonia, night calls and nesting areas fell sharply between 2004 to 2007 and 2017 to 2018. At sea, a survey found a 35% drop in the eastern tropical Pacific between 1988 to 1990 and 1998 to 2000.