Bonin Petrel

The Bonin Petrel is a small gadfly petrel, 30 cm long with a wingspan of around 67 cm. It has a white head with a black cap and face markings; overall the head often has a scaled appearance. Its pale grey upperparts have darker primaries and wing coverts creating a M mark across the back. The underwing is white with dark edging and a patch at the carpal joint and across underwing coverts. The tail is dark grey, and the rest of the plumage is white, except for a dark half collar on the breast. Like the rest of the Pterodroma petrels the black bill is short and hooked. The legs and feet are pink with dark patches.

The Bonin Petrel is classified as Least Concern. Does not qualify for a more at risk category. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category.

Bonin Petrel in the Hawaiian Archipelago. The Bonin Petrel breeds farther north than any other Pterodroma, or gadfly petrel, in the Pacific Ocean. A small, burrow-nesting seabird that breeds colonially, this petrel nests in winter, whereas the only other gadfly petrel nesting in the Hawaiian Islands, the Dark-rumped Petrel (P. phaeopygia), nests in summer. More

eggs of the Bonin Petrel is considerably less than expected. The incubation period, the rate of water loss from the egg during natural incubation, egg  Present address: North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, P.O. Box 27647, Raleigh, North Caro- lina 27611 USA. 236 and burrow temperatures, nest and ambient vapor pressures, water-vapor conductance, and the physical dimensions of the egg, egg- shell, and its pores were determined. The hu- midity and thermal environment of the nest and egg were also studied. More

The impact of rat predation on Bonin Petrels on Midway Atoll is considerable. Petrels have been largely exterminated as successful breeders on Eastern Island where rat pop- ulations are denser. Rats are frequently seen foraging during the daylight hours on East- ern Island. Lawrence Pinter (pers. comm.) examined 6 freshly killed roof rats on Eastern Island on 20 March 1981. Numerous nicks and cuts around the nose and on the ears suggested intense intraspecific aggression, indicative of an extremely high rat population density. More

A Bonin Petrel in the French Frigate Shoals Conservation status Least Concern (IUCN 3.1) Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Procellariiformes Family: Procellariidae Genus: Pterodroma Species: P. More

A fact from Bonin Petrel appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on 28 August 2006. The text of the entry was as follows: "Did you know * ... More

* Pterodroma hypoleuca Bonin Petrel Bird in flight Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands, Japan (Monotypic species) Alan Tate 1 April 2007 22 weeks ago 3 Sounds 0 recordings * No sound recordings available yet * Send or share this page * Email this pageEmail this page About us | Contact us | FAQ Advertising more » More

flight to take us back to Honolulu, Bonin Petrels were flying around the rafters. Unfortunately my lenses were packed away for the flight. We also saw Wedge-tailed Shearwater one night sitting outside its burrow. More importantly we heard 4 of them moaning one day while we were standing over the ruins of Battery D. It seems there are 4 magazines associated with each underground battery and a shearwater nesting in each. And oh the moan. Unforgettable. More

Metabolic Rate of Laysan Albatross and Bonin Petrel Chicks on Midway Atoll Author(s): Grant, Gilbert S Whittow, G Causey Issue Date: Apr-1984 Publisher: University of Hawai'i Press Citation: Grant GS, Whittow GC. 1984. Metabolic rate of Laysan albatross and Bonin petrel chicks on Midway Atoll. Pac Sci 38(2): 170-176. More

The Bonin Petrel, Pterodroma hypoleuca, is a seabird in the family Procellariidae. It is a small gadfly petrel that lives in the waters of the north west Pacific and nests on islands south of Japan and in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Its secretive habits and limited range have resulted in few studies and many aspects of the species biology are poorly known. More

Bonin Petrels have a wedge-shaped tail and flesh colored legs and feet with black toes. Sexes and ages are alike. Bonins can be easily distinguished from the only other gadfly petrel in Hawaii, the Dark-rumped petrel (P. sandwichensis). Dark-rumped Petrels are much larger and especially long-winged compared to Bonin Petrels. Also, Dark-rumps are darker above and have a narrower black border to white underwing. More

Bonin Petrels nest in burrows that can be as long as three meters and one meter deep, usually in sandy areas. A single, white egg is laid in the nesting chamber at the end of the burrow. No relaying will take place if the egg is lost. Incubation duty is shared by both adults and lasts about 49 days. Chicks begin to hatch in early March. Parents feed chicks by regurgitating concentrated stomach oil (similar to Albatross). More

Secure in their underground burrows, Bonin Petrels begin laying their eggs during January. Many nonbreeding birds are active over the colonies at night. Red-tailed Tropicbird January is the beginning of courtship for early season nesters. Their circular aerial flights are as impressive to visitors as they must be to potential mates. More

populations of Bonin Petrels in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, primarily by taking eggs. Polynesian rats introduced to Kure Atoll were such a problem for Bonin Petrels that for a five year period in the 1960s not a single chick fledged (hatching success can be as high as 90% in the absence of introduced predators). The Bonin Petrel, Pterodroma hypoleuca, is a seabird in the family Procellariidae. More