Petrels

Kennedy Warne talks to Kathryn about a night out with the petrelheads, being an evening in the Auckland suburb of    Cornwallis, banding grey-faced petrels, and the excellent 2019 breeding season of the threatened black petrels of Great Barrier. The maps show the journey they make on their maiden flight from New Zealand to Chile.

As the moon rises over the Manukau Harbour, petrels come to their burrows at Cornwallis

Grey-faced petrel resting at its Cornwallis colony

When raising their chicks, adult black petrels fly an average of 3633 km per provisioning trip

Apart from one bird which turned too soon, 14 newly fledged black petrels tagged in 2018 took an almost identical route to the vicinity of the Galapagos Islands

The images in this gallery are used with permission and are subject to copyright conditions.