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Seabird, Not Seen For 80 Years, Photographed off Papua New Guinea06/03/2008 14:11:39
March 2008. A bird not seen for 80 years has been rediscovered in the Pacific to the delight of conservationists. Only two records of Beck’s petrel have ever existed previously, from the late 1920s when ornithologist Rollo Beck collected two of the tube-nosed seabirds on his quest for museum specimens from the region. Now, an expert on a ship in the Bismarck Archipelago, north-east of Papua New Guinea, has photographed more than 30 Beck’s petrels and his account is being published (March 7) in the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. There were some young birds amongst the group which indicates that the birds have a breeding site close by. A recently dead young Beck’s petrel was also found at sea, becoming only the third specimen in existence. Hadoram Shirihai Hadoram Shirihai, an ornithologist (And author of The Complete Guide to Antarctic Wildlife) from Israel, led the two-week voyage last summer. He said: ‘I may have seen then in 2003 on a previous trip which made me eager to return. I wanted to know more about these amazing petrels and understand better how we can help them. I undertook the 2007 voyage to make the certain rediscovery of the species. It was possible for the first time to observe Beck’s and [the very similar] Tahiti petrel side by side.’ Hopes that the bird had not gone extinct were raised in Australia two years ago when tour guide Richard Baxter thought he had seen a Beck’s petrel in the Coral Sea off Queensland. Rare bird experts rejected this sighting because photos were not sufficiently clear. Hadoram Shirihai’s pictures of the species’ more recent appearance have left no doubt, however.  Potential Threats To Survival Identifying the dark, slender bird is complicated by its resemblance to another species, the Tahiti petrel. And its protection could be hampered by several threats, including rats and cats at breeding grounds, which have yet to be found, and widespread logging and land clearance for palm oil plantations. Research last year revealed the extent of logging on New Britain, one of the islands making up Papua New Guinea. Nest Burrows Experts believe the Beck’s petrel may only visit nesting burrows at night, which will make its protection even more complex. Dr Geoff Hilton, a senior biologist at the RSPB, said: ‘There are numerous atolls and islands in the region where the Beck’s petrel could be breeding and its remaining population may only be very small. Even so, the discovery of this ‘lost’ bird is fantastic news and we congratulate those who spent so much time and effort in finding it. It doesn’t get much better than finding a species that was long thought extinct. Now we must use this discovery as a new spur to try to save the bird.’ Facts for Petrel Heads
The Bismarck Archipelago is a group of islands off the north-eastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean. It is part of Papua New Guinea. Most islands are mountainous, covered by tropical forest, some of which has been logged, and surrounded by extensive reefs. o Hadoram Shirihai has been invovled in discovering several new species in Israel and the Western Palearctic. He is an author and has written several books including the Birds of Israel, His research has covered birds in the Middle East. Europe, north-east Africa and Asia. He is one of the very few people to have visited almost every subantarctic island and the breeding grounds of all forms of albatrosses. o BirdLife’s Preventing Extinctions initiative is working to save the world’s threatened birds by finding companies and institutions to act as BirdLife Species Champions, funding conservation efforts working on the ground. For more information: BirdLife’s Preventing Extinctions.
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