White-bellied Storm-petrel- seen occasionally in the air above Phillip Is Norfolk but its breeding location remains unknown-Friday nights recovery within a petrel colony was a first. Known breeding 900 km Sth or 1400 km Est. What an exquisite fellow! #SuperSeabirdSunday
Low lying land mass with a narrow stip of water between it and mainland
End of civil twilight dimly lit camping scene with a person silhouette on a higher ground.
Two smaller vessels being equipped with waterproofed equipment on a rock platform
Small, grey-black and white seabird with a large foot thrust in front for balance, on a small leafed shrub, at night.
Some of NSW coastal islands have their seabirds poorly documented, despite their close proximity. This must be the smallest vessel I’ve used to access an island in 30 years of survey. Learning more of White-faced Storm-petrel.
Black and white Sooty Tern -in defensive posture- stand within dry herbage at nesting colony
Common Noddy tern in defensive mode having just walked off an egg at its nest. On a boulder strewn path.
Two grey noddies in alerted stance with one vocalising on a grey boulder near former nest site
Black Noddy tern being held in hand with green vegetation in background.
Last weeks’ breeding noddy-terns of Phillip Island, Norfolk: Sooty; Common; Grey; Black. Approach/handled under permits. #SuperSeabirdSunday#Seabirds
Biggest issue in these palm forests for disturbance of FFSW is burrow collapse. Max 3.5m depth and little/no ground cover to hold substrate together. A shearwater and need to excavate means before egg laying, the air is alive here with sand plumes!
Good point. It depends. When working on a species, low white light to navigate-better depth perception for moving quickly- and red to target-pick up- specific birds. These birds weren‘t alarmed as I’m moving quickly. Was actually passing thru on gecko surveys where white is needed for eye-shine.
A good news #Seabirds story for your feed. Got to love Phillip Island off Norfolk- South Pacific. It keeps turning up surprises!
After documenting an expanding Flesh-footed Shearwater population on Phillip off Norfolk last month, it was delightful to walk through the 10,000 burrow-strong Clear Place colony on Lord Howe last week. #SuperSeabirdSunday
Surveying Lord Howe geckos between the two mountains here, showcased this year’s production of Providence Petrel fledglings- some still needing a good preen. #SuperSeabirdSunday#Seabirds
A good news story after almost 10 years of working towards a local population recovery: www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
#Seabirds
A late offering for #SuperSeabirdSunday a male Kermadec Petrel has his partner drop back into the nest site. First meet-up after 5 months apart at sea.
Providence Petrel defending its burrow to all comers at the world’s 2nd only breeding island, Red Knoll, Phillip Island Norfolk. #SuperSeabirdSunday#Seabirds🪶
Placid Little Shearwater on the forest floor of Phillip Island, Norfolk. #SuperSeabirdSunday#Seabirds🪶
Something to get you thinking…
worldseabirdunion.org/world-seabir...
#Seabirds
Yellow-legged gulls, looking statuesque (with other statues) on a Roman era bridge over the Tiber, Rome. #SuperSeabirdSunday will be whatever I come across in Europe for the next two months. Got to love #Seabirds🪶
No chocolate eggs but a pair of freshly hatched Little Penguin chicks from late last season. #SuperSeabirdSunday🪶
Australasian Seabird Groups Pacific Travel Grant enabled NGO presenters to share stories of seabird conservation successes and challenges at the 1st ever gathering in Auckland New Zealand as part of 2025 Oceania Seabirds. Inspiring & sobering so much yet to be started. #Pacificseabirds#Seabirds🪶
Welcome slide image for a conference on seabirds in Auckland New Zealand
Downtown Auckland New Zealand with image taken from the perspective of high in a city apartment, but still with a Red-billed gull (circled) flying down at street level
A Samoan speaker delivering an address from a lecture podium
A Cook Islander speaker delivering an address from a lecture podium
A conference in Auckland New Zealand this week brings together Pacific seabird people from research, management and government to speak, listen and have hands-on experiences with regional experts to inspire and encourage connections and commitment for their conservation. #Pacificseabirds #Seabirds🪶
A peculiar male petrel (and Storm-petrel) habit is the courtship growl- I’ve often heard it from burrows but didn’t realise it involved inflation of the throat. Some species can have a very low register for their body size. Here a White-necked Petrel gives it his all. #SuperSeabirdSunday🪶
A sleepy view of a pair of Black-winged petrels on a lazy afternoon, Phillip Island Norfolk. #SuperSeabirdSunday🪶
The Brown (previously Common) Noddy protecting its egg and keeping an eye on us as we step over its nest- built on the steep track, traversed between the landing site to the research hut on Phillip Island, Norfolk. #SuperSeabirdSunday🪶
Hose pipes (‘waddies’) are flexible detectors that chicks will nibble on when presented. At 2 mths old, the chicks impact on a burrow makes it certain of presence when checking. Extraction can be difficult when beyond arms length, waddies are use to persuade chicks to move close to entrance.
Bright morning sunlight highlights six people standing around a study plot- delineated by metal picket posts and flags. The vegetation is waist deep sedge. The background shows a lighthouse on the far left, ocean in the mid-background and distant land
Person holding a tape-delineated plastic rod, held in dirty hand with a lighthouse in the background
Downy covered shearwater chick, with an exposed leg showing a metal band. The calm ocean visible on far right and rocky landscape on the left background
Assisting in the 66th productivity survey of shearwaters on Montague Island, coastal NSW. Using hose pipes for detection, downy young are extracted for banding and species ID. For 25 yrs Wedge-tails have been in the ascendency as tropical conditions strengthen southwards. Climate changing.#Seabirds🪶
A Masked Booby indicates that my presence on the nearby track is as close as he’s happy with. His chick is in agreement. Phillip Island, Norfolk. #SuperSeabirdSunday🪶
White-necked (naped) petrel pair in courtship The males growl in contrast to the females more common strident cry. Phillip Island, Norfolk (50 pairs). #SuperSeabirdSunday#Seabirds🪶
Given the trans- Pacific and sub-Antarctic islands affinities of the sub-species (graphic from a 2014 genetic paper on the species using my samples), I should have not been surprised by the track- but I was. Small populations and seldom visited- maybe this is all we get.
Small storm-petrel in-hand at night. Exposed legs showing colour tape around metal band on one leg and Global Light Sensing logger attached to a band on the other leg
Image of South Pacific with Australian land mass on far left and a series of red dots indicating the movements of a tracked seabird
The White-bellied Storm-petrel trip also gave up one of two deployed GLS loggers. 1st ever track. Aust. to Chile (10K km) and down towards the Antarctica coast. Unprecedented?! So hard to access remote colonies with over 80 island-days available (2009-2025) but only 8 landings possible.#Seabirds 🪶
Storm-petrel burrows with slotted drain-pipe entrance with reduced tunnel-height from deforming mass of additional rock over entrance.
White-bellied Storm-petrel fledgling cupped in a set of hands
These concrete-perlite units still require a timber shade to reduce thermal loading. The deformed 55mm tunnel entrance restricts access to larger species ensuring a positive outcome for Storm-petrel productivity. Paper to come.
Cement-perlite nesting burrow with White-bellied Storm-petrel adult sitting in nest within
Cement-perlite burrow with slotted drain pipe tunnel protruding into a nest containing a recently hatch white-bellied Storm-petrel
Person in foreground carrying two buckets and a third bucket in a backpack on their back, up a steep slope. Sooty Terns fly about in the air above. The background is dominated by two large mountains, with cloud caps and a stretch of calm ocean between the two sites.
Two circular concrete caps sit atop cylindrical nesting chambers set in grass tussocks, with weighty rock semi/collapsing a tunnel entrance in the foreground. Background shows two peaks on a steep slope with ocean behind.
It’s taken 2 years but our hard work on Roach Is. off Lord Howe has been successful. Providing habitat for White-bellied Storm-petrels- safe from larger Little Shearwaters that take over natural burrows during chick provisioning. A slow burn project with many collaborators invested in success.
Ridiculously rare footage for #SuperSeabirdSunday from late Feb. trip to Phillip Is. off Norfolk. 2nd only pop. of White-necked Petrels with one in company of Juan Fernandez Petrel, 10,000km from home islands. #Seabirds Amazing🪶
Large shark held against a boat with tether ropes. Ocean around boat is calm. A person is leaning on side of vessel
Grassy trail on a slope at night with several large birds alighted in the medium foreground and distance
Large grey seabird being held with on leg extended. The leg has a bulky device affixed to the leg. The lighting shows it is nighttime.
The Southern Shark Ecology Group has been tracking Tigers in the waters around Norfolk Island, with arrival and departure the same as Wedge-tailed Shearwaters. A huge 75% of their diet is seabirds! We are in the 1st stage of a collab to see if shark and shearwater migration areas match.#Seabirds🪶
