Pelagic birds around Rapa and Marotiri, French Polynesia, October–December 2019, with notes on Rapa Shearwater Puffinus myrtae and Titan Storm Petrel Fregetta [grallaria] titan

• Published in: Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club
• Main Authors: Flood, Robert, Zufelt, Kirk, Bretagnolle, Vincent, Shirihai, Hadoram
• Other Authors: FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town-DST-NRF Centre of Excellence, 1001 Third Line East, Sault Sainte Marie, Ontario, P6A 6J8, Canada, Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé - UMR 7372 (CEBC), La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Naturhistorisches Museum der Burgergemeinde Bern Switzerland
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2021
• Subjects: [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Arctic; Austral; Rapa; Titan; Arctic skua; Stercorarius parasiticus
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03510384; https://doi.org/10.25226/bboc.v141i4.2021.a3

International audience We report pelagic observations from around Rapa Island and MarotiriRocks, in the Austral Islands, French Polynesia, made during the first dedicatedat-sea survey of birds in the region, during October–December 2019. We recommendthat the regional occurrence of several seabird species be modified and that the listof avifauna for Rapa and Marotiri, the Austral Islands, and East Polynesia variouslybe amended to include Juan Fernández Petrel Pterodroma externa, Mottled PetrelP. inexpectata, Gould’s Petrel P. leucoptera, Stejneger’s Petrel P. longirostris, Buller’sShearwater Ardenna bulleri and Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus. Two Gould’sPetrels were behaving as if breeding, and the timing of egg laying by ChristmasShearwater Puffinus nativitatis is apparently somewhat earlier than the species’ otherpopulations. We found Polynesian Storm Petrel Nesofregetta fuliginosa foraging inlarge numbers around Marotiri suggesting a hitherto unrecognised and perhapssignificant breeding population; we also found large numbers around Rapa. TitanStorm Petrel foraged off Rapa in substantial numbers and c.5% appeared to be avariant, raising the possibility of two distinctive phenotypes. We include at-seaimages and a field description of ‘classic’ Rapa Shearwater Puffinus myrtae, andreport an unidentified small Puffinus seen at Marotiri. Our survey adds significantnew information to knowledge of seabirds in this region, and in combination withprevious work argues strongly for the conservation of Rapa, Marotiri and thesurrounding ocean’s pelagic birds.