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Summary
White-chinned petrels, Procellaria aequinoctialis, are one of the seabird species most affected by fisheries bycatch, yet some populations remain virtually unstudied. The size of the breeding population on the Auckland Islands, New Zealand, is unknown. We estimated the population size of white-chinned petrels on Disappointment Island, thought to be a key breeding site in the Auckland Islands, taking into account the detection probability of burrows via distance sampling and burrow occupancy.
Eighty line transects were distributed over the island, with a total line length of 1 600 m. White-chinned petrel burrows occurred at a density of 644 (95% confidence intervals: 487–850) burrows/ha, with an overall burrow detection probability of 0.33 ± 0.03. We document an estimated total of 153 100 (115 900–202 200) breeding pairs of white-chinned petrels on Disappointment Island in mid incubation.
Publication information
Rexer-Huber, K., Parker, G.C., Sagar, P., & Thompson, D. 2015. White-chinned petrel population estimate, Disappointment Island (Auckland Islands). Report prepared by Parker Conservation for the Agreement for the Conservation of Albatross and Petrels. 14p.