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  Profile

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  In flight

Seabirds

Kermadec Petrel

Pterodroma neglecta

• rare
• 55 km/h
• Least Concern

Comes in pale, dark, and intermediate morphs, all from the same nest. Nature could not pick just one look.

Population

150,000–200,000 individuals, decreasing

Habitat

Highly pelagic and marine; breeds on remote oceanic islands, nesting in scrapes, hollows, or rock crevices on vegetated coastal slopes and sea cliffs, often under ferns, shrubs, or trees

Fun fact

The Kermadec Petrel is polymorphic, with individuals in the same population occurring in light, dark, and intermediate color morphs.

Range

Subtropical South Pacific Ocean, breeding from Lord Howe Island (Australia) and the Kermadec Islands (New Zealand) east to the Juan Fernández and Desventuradas Islands and San Ambrosio Island (Chile), with a small colony at Balls Pyramid and a subspecies on Round Island, Mauritius; disperses widely across tropical/subtropical Pacific waters outside the breeding season, occurring north to Hawaii and as a vagrant to Australia and New Zealand

Diet

Squid, fish, and crustaceans, with some insects taken on land; forages by dipping and surface-seizing, and occasionally engages in kleptoparasitism of other seabirds

Size

0.38 m

Wingspan

1 m