White-Necked Petrel

Pterodroma cervicalis

This bird’s only known breeding location is in the south Pacific, north of New Zealand. When not breeding it wanders over most of the tropical northwestern Pacific Ocean. White-Necked Petrels have been poorly studied, and there is much we need to learn to better understand its range and behaviours.

With an estimated population of only ~50,000 breeding pairs (150,000 individuals), this species is listed as vulnerable. Taxonomists regard the White-Necked Petrel as monotypic (i.e. there are no subspecies).

I met one of these rare seabirds during the 2017 science expedition to the Revillagigedo Islands, a few miles east of Isla Clarion, well west of its expected range.

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