The Chatham petrel was discovered by Hawkins on South-east Island in the Chatham Group in 1892 and was described by Salvin the following year in Ibis 1893.
The Chatham Island petrel formerly bred in the forested areas of Pitt Island, Mangere, Rangatira and Chatham Island but due largely to the impacts of predation by rats and cats, they have been absent from all those sites except Rangatira for the last 100 years. However, they have been successfuly translocated back to the main island in recent years, after it was determined that another of the main reasons for decline was competition with broad billed prions, Pachyptila vittata, for breeding sites.
The Chatham Island petrel adults return to the Chathams Group in late November to early December to prepare burrows and to court. They nest in burrows under the forest canopy to which they are generally faithful to over time. Leaves are used as nesting material. Each pair lays a single white egg in December-January and the chicks fledge in May-June.
They may migrate to the North Pacific in Winter but this is yet to be determined conclusively.
Greytown, 2008
