Rare and elusive sea bird is snapped in Fiji

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Updated:

The first images of an an endangered and elusive sea bird has been captured by researchers in Fiji.

Scientists photographed the Fiji Petrel soaring above the ocean about 25 miles south of Fiji's remote island of Gau, in the first confirmed sighting of the chocolate-coloured bird.

The researchers' findings in May were described in a paper published in this week's Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club.

Enlarge   Fiji Petrel

An elusive Fiji Petrel flies over the waves about 25 miles south of Fiji's remote island of Gau in May

They are significant because there is so little information about the bird.

'Finding this bird and capturing such images was a fantastic and exhilarating experience,' the paper's lead author, Hadoram Shirihai, said.

The bird is listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the producer of the world's Red List of endangered animals.

A 2008 report estimated there are less than 50 Fiji Petrels left and they live exclusively around Gau island.

The first Fiji Petrel specimen was collected in 1855 on Gau, and a second not until 1984. Since then, there have been a handful of reports of birds crashing into houses on Gau, but no one had ever positively identified one at sea, the researchers said.

They threw blocks of frozen fish pieces mixed with dense fish oil into the water, creating a smelly slick that attracted the birds.

The scientists spotted up to eight petrels over their 11-day expedition, part funded by U.K-based conservation group BirdLife International.

Expedition member Dick Watling of the conservation group NatureFiji-MareqetiViti said more surveys to locate the birds' breeding area are planned for next year.

'Once we know the location, we can assess what needs to be done to turn around the fortunes of this species,' he said.

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