Spectacled Petrel

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Spectacled Petrel
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Procellariiformes Family: Procellariidae Genus: Procellaria Species: P. conspicillata
Binomial name
Procellaria conspicillata Gould, 1844
Synonyms
Procellaria aequinoctialis conspicillata

The Spectacled Petrel, Procellaria conspicillata, is a rare seabird that nests only on the high western plateau of Inaccessible Island in the Tristan da Cunha group. It is one of the largest petrels that nest in burrows.

The Spectacled Petrel is an all dark bird with white face markings - which vary in extent but include a ring of white feathers surrounding the eye region which give the bird it's name - and a yellowish bill. It is very similar to the White-chinned Petrel, which lacks the face markings. It was considered conspecific with that species - or even a color morph - until 2004^[1].

The Spectacled Petrel is threatened by interactions with longline fisheries which kills hundreds of birds every year as they become entangled in the fishing lines and drown. Historically, it also seems to have occurred on Amsterdam Island and possibly elsewhere in the southern Indian Ocean, based on sightings off Australia; it was extirpated by feral pigs.^[2]

The species was classified as Critically Endangered by the IUCN in 2000^[2]. A subsequent study gave cautious hope for a continuing recovery of the population from an all-time low of merely some dozens of pairs in the 1930s^[3]. Indeed it appears as if the species' numbers have been underestimated in more recent years as an accurate census is difficult due to the rugged terrain of its island home. Consequently, the conservation status of this species is downgraded to Vulnerable in the 2007 IUCN Red List.^[4].

[edit] Footnotes

1. ^ Brooke (2004)
2. ^ ^{a b} BirdLife International (2005)
3. ^ Ryan et al. (2006)
4. ^ See BirdLife International (2007a,b).

[edit] References

• BirdLife International (2005). Procellaria conspicillata. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 08 April 2007.
• BirdLife International (2007a): [ 2006-2007 Red List status changes ]. Retrieved 2007-AUG-26.
• BirdLife International (2007b): Spectacled Petrel - BirdLife Species Factsheet. Retrieved 2007-AUG-26.
• Brooke, Michael (2004): Albatrosses and Petrels across the World. Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York. ISBN 0-19-850125-0
• Ryan, Peter G.; Dorse, Clifford & Hilton, Geoff M. (2006): The conservation status of the spectacled petrel Procellaria conspicillata. Biological Conservation 131(4): 575-583. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2006.03.004 (HTML abstract)