ZECO TRAVEL TALK

View a photo gallery of the White-necked, Vanuatu, Beck’s petrels and New Zealand Storm-Petrel!

The recent Zegrahm Expeditions New Zealand to New Guinea program provided a cornucopia of rare and little known seabird species. It all began with wonderful sightings and photographic opportunities of the recently rediscovered New Zealand Storm-petrel and ended with a Beck’s Petrel, the fifth of the voyage, as the expedition vessel, the M.V. Clipper Odyssey approached the Laughlan Islands in Papua New Guinea. Along the way there were also such species as Heinroth’s and Tropical shearwaters, Collared, Black-winged, Tahiti and White-necked Petrels.

The most significant sightings and photographs, however, were of Vanuatu Petrels, a species that has not been seen at sea for over 80 years and never before photographed over the ocean. Previously known only from seven museum skins, this rare and virtually unknown seabird has now only been seen twice, since it was originally collected in January of 1927. The Zegrahm team, led by seabird expert Peter Harrison, observed this rare species in the northern Vanuatu Islands just 60 miles from where the original type specimen was collected by Rollo Beck during the Whitney South Seas Expedition.

The sightings of this long-lost seabird species occurred during our northward voyage from Auckland, New Zealand to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. The expedition visited several remote and seldom visited island groups in their quest for seabirds, including New Caledonia, the Vanuatu archipelago and the Solomon Islands. Twenty-one individual Vanuatu Petrels were seen over a three-day period. Sightings of this “back-from-the-dead” species culminated on February 8th when 11 birds were observed in a one-hour period. Of special significance is that nine of these birds were sitting, rafting on the sea just before dusk in front of several off-shore rock stacks. These islets may indicate a possible breeding haven for this enigmatic species.
In addition to the six specimens collected at sea in 1927 off the island of Mera Lava, Banks Islands, northern Vanuatu, one other specimen was found dead in 1983, on a roadside in New South Wales, Australia. In February of 2009 a small number of Vanuatu Petrels were discovered breeding in the mountains of Vanua Lava. The 2010 sightings, therefore, of 21 individual Vanuatu Petrels, at sea, in the same geographic area and at virtually the same time of year as the original 1927 sightings, are noteworthy. They constitute only the second documented sightings of this poorly known species since originally collected over 80 years ago and confirm that the species is still extant.

The six original specimens obtained by the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) Whitney South Sea Expedition in 1927 lay unnoticed and not recognized as different from the very similar White-necked Petrel for almost 50 years. It was not until 1976 that the New Zealand ornithologist, R. A. Falla, recognized them as a smaller, distinct form. They were only described as a full species by M. J. Imber and A. J. D. Tennyson in 2001 (Emu 2001, 101, 123-127).

The identification of Vanuatu Petrel at sea is complicated by its close resemblance to the White-necked Petrel, Pterodroma cervicalis. Vanuatu Petrel, however, is smaller than White-necked Petrel, with a distinctly narrower, longer-tailed jizz. It also shows a more expansive area of dark grey to black on the underside of the primaries and a broader, dark leading edge to the outer underwing between the carpal and wingtip. By comparison, White-necked Petrels are larger birds and the tails are broader, more wedge-shaped, thus lacking the long, narrow-tailed jizz of the Vanuatu Petrel. The underwing of the White-necked Petrel is also different. The primary tip is not as extensively blackish due to the white inner webs of the primaries in that species. The difference in primary tip color of the underwing is the same as that found in the Shy and Salvin’s albatrosses, Thalassarche cauta and T. salvini. Also, the leading edge of the wing averages paler, whiter and is not as noticeably dark, and usually appears “more white than black.”

The identification process is hampered, however, as a small percentage of White-necked Petrels, around eight to ten percent, can also show darker tips to the underside of the primaries and a darker leading edge. By comparison, all 21 sightings of Vanuatu Petrels showed consistent, solid dark wing-tips and a dark, broad leading edge to the underwing. These differences are shown in the accompanying photographs of four White-necked Petrels (taken at the Kermadecs in December 2009) and four Vanuatu Petrels (taken off northern Vanuatu in February 2010). A field sketch of the two species, drawn by Peter Harrison, is also shown.

View a full checklist of the birds seen on the Zegrahm voyage, prepared by South African ornithologist and co-leader of the expedition, Jonathan Rossouw.

Plans are set to return to the area in November on our Faces of Melanesia expedition and additional plans are currently underway for an expedition in 2012. Unlike the 2010 expedition, however, the 2012 expedition will continue through the rarely visited Solomon Islands to the Bismark archipelago, the Caroline Islands and to Torishima, home of the Short-tailed Albatross, before ending the voyage in Yokohama, Japan. The 2012 expedition will once again be led by Zegrahm cofounder Peter Harrison. Contact Ted Kenefick at by email or by phone at 206-285-4000 or 800-628-8747 for more information on the 2012 expedition.