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Beck’s Petrel

Pseudobulweria becki

About

Beck’s Petrel was only definitely known from two specimens taken in 1928 and 1929, until its rediscovery in 2007.

The single largest single record since its rediscovery was a minimum count of 300 individuals in Silur Bay. This species is part of the genus Pseudobulweria¸ which diverged from all other birds 35.7 million years ago during the Paleogene period, which is around when humans and capuchins shared a common ancestor. This species is likely to have declined severely from depredation by introduced cats and rats on its breeding grounds. Also as petrels are nocturnal, they are notoriously difficult to detect during surveys. Conservation actions are underway, taking place in southern New Ireland including liaison and outreach to communities. There is also a programme to deploy satellite-transmitters to birds captured at sea, to narrow down the search areas for the species’ breeding ground.

  • Order: Procellariiformes
  • Family: Procellariidae
  • Population: 70-400
  • Trend: decreasing
  • Size: 29cm

EDGE Score

EDGE Score: 4.92 (?)
ED Score: 7.58 (?)
GE / IUCN Red List (?)
Not Evaluated Data Deficient Least Concern Near Threatened Vulnerable Endangered Critically Endangered Extinct in the Wild Extinct

Distribution

The species is found in Papua New Guinea; Solomon Islands, and also Vanuatu; Wallis and Futuna Islands.

Habitat and Ecology

This species is likely to nest in burrows on the slopes of mountains on larger islands, but may also breed on islets. This species may also breed in montane forest.

Find out more

This wordcloud illustrates the threats facing this species. The size of each word indicates the extent of a species range that is affected by that threat (larger size means a greater area is affected). The colour of the word indicates how much that threat impacts the species (darker shades of red mean the threat is more severe).

Crops Wood plantations Mining Invasive species

Threat wordcloud key:

Small area affected
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a
a
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Large area affected
Least severe
Most severe
Severity unknown
Source: The IUCN List of Threatened Species. Version 2017.1.
Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org