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  Profile

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  In flight

Seabirds

Cook’s Petrel

Pterodroma cookii

• rare
• 55 km/h
• Vulnerable

Nests on three islands in New Zealand, then crosses the Pacific to California. Forty hours of ocean is a Tuesday.

Population

Over 1 million individuals total (~670,000 mature individuals per BirdLife's 2018 IUCN assessment); Little Barrier Island (98% of global population, ~286,000 breeding pairs in 2007) and Codfish Island stable-to-increasing rapidly following predator eradication; Great Barrier Island's small remnant population remains severely depleted (from ~20,000 historically to roughly 100)

Habitat

Breeds in burrows on forested ridges and steep slopes (roughly 300-700 m elevation) on predator-free/predator-managed islands; otherwise highly pelagic, foraging over open ocean far from land

Fun fact

After Pacific rats were eradicated from Little Barrier Island in 2004, Cook's Petrel chick fledging success there jumped from about 5% to 70%.

Range

Endemic breeder to New Zealand, nesting only on Little Barrier Island (Hauturu), Great Barrier Island (Aotea), and Codfish Island (Whenua Hou); non-breeding season ranges widely across the Pacific Ocean roughly from the Gulf of Alaska/southern California south to Peru/Chile

Diet

Primarily squid, supplemented with fish and crustaceans, caught mainly at night at or near the sea surface

Size

0.27 m

Wingspan

0.655 m

Lifespan

20 years