Mascarene Petrel - and what it takes to get the press interested...

...'egg bumps' apparently.

This story broke yesterday with the publication of the long-awaited Mascarene Petrel paper (Shirihai et al 2014). Well long awaited in the seabirding world that is, although it was picked up by the British press at least - The Independent and The Guardian, and I hear Tony was even doing radio interviews. It's a change from my usual more parochial concerns and while I wasn't part of the expedition - I did get an invite but my meagre travelling fund was exhausted - I did have a small role in producing the resulting paper (Shirihai et al 2014), link to pdf below.

In a family containing so many endangered species, the Mascarene Petrel Pseudobulweria aterrima is in a precarious, though sadly not a unique, position. It's only known to breed on the small island of Réunion in the western Indian Ocean. It was first described in 1856 and for many years was known from just ten specimens (all but four now lost) until two more were collected in the 1970's. A breeding colony on Réunion was discovered by Vincent Bretagnolle in 1997 but there were no definite sightings at sea and certainly no photographs of the bird in its natural marine environment - until a couple of years ago.

Hadoram Shirihai and Vincent Bretagnolle (authors of the forthcoming 'Tubenose Handbook - illustrated by yours truly), together with Tony Pym and Maria San Román visited Réunion in December 2012. Using the same methods perfected in studying Beck's and Fiji Petrels and in getting the first at sea photos of Zino's Petrel, they lured in at least 33 birds and photographed 12. For the first time it was possible to describe Mascarene Petrel's at sea appearance, how it looked, how it flew - it's jizz.

I won't attempt to summarise the identification features - and the difficulties - the paper does that perfectly well.  Hadoram has kindly allowed me to post some of his astonishing photos - just wish I'd been there!

Mascarene Petrel Pseudobulweria aterrima, showing the characteristic deep based Pseudobulweria bill (look at the depth of that latericorn!). Off Réunion Dec 2012 © Hadoram Shirihai/Tubenoses Project

Mascarene Petrel Pseudobulweria aterrima, the faint contrast between the blackish head and the browner belly 'ghosts' the hooded pattern of Tahiti Petrel Pseudobulweria rostrata. off Réunion Dec 2012 © Hadoram Shirihai/Tubenoses Project

Mascarene Petrel Pseudobulweria aterrima, off Réunion Dec 2012 © Hadoram Shirihai/Tubenoses Project

Mascarene Petrel Pseudobulweria aterrima, the pale flecking on the neck is just visible in this superb shot. Off Réunion Dec 2012 © Hadoram Shirihai/Tubenoses Project

Mascarene Petrel Pseudobulweria aterrima, long even width and rounded wings. off Réunion Dec 2012 © Hadoram Shirihai/Tubenoses Project

Mascarene Petrel Pseudobulweria aterrima, off Réunion Dec 2012 © Hadoram Shirihai/Tubenoses Project

Mascarene Petrel Pseudobulweria aterrima, approaching the chum. Off Réunion Dec 2012 © Hadoram Shirihai/Tubenoses Project

Mascarene Petrel Pseudobulweria aterrima, feeding on the chum. Off Réunion Dec 2012 © Hadoram Shirihai/Tubenoses Project

Mascarene Petrel Pseudobulweria aterrima, taking off - great legs!. Off Réunion Dec 2012 © Hadoram Shirihai/Tubenoses Project

Mascarene Petrel Pseudobulweria aterrima, off Réunion Dec 2012 © Hadoram Shirihai/Tubenoses Project

And my small part? Since I was painting the plates for the forthcoming Tubenoses monograph, Hadoram asked if I could move a little ahead of schedule and prepare the Mascarene Petrel plate for publication in the paper. Here it is.

Mascarene Petrel Pseudobulweria aterrima and Fiji Petrel P.macgillivrayi, together with some confusion species. From Albatrosses, Petrels and Shearwaters of the World (in prep.) © Tim Worfolk

The press coverage has been great and it's no surprise that most story's are picking up on the 'egg bump' - which, to be honest, is an amazing first. But when even the Guardian writes of  'ornithological paparazzi', I dread to think what the gutter press are making of it.

The paper is about much more than at sea identification of course. With a bird as endangered as the Mascarene Petrel it's vital to know its population size, all its breeding sites and what dangers it faces. A likely breeding population of in the order of 100 pairs is suggested (although it may be higher) and since only 9-10 burrows have so far been found it's obviously critical that the remaining sites are located and, if at all possible, protected. At least one result of publicity is often more funding, I hear that Birdlife International is to spend more than 3 million Euros (half from the EU LIFE+ fund) to halt the decline of Réunion's endemic petrels (the other being Barau's Petrel Pterodroma baraui). Money from the EU LIFE+ fund will be spent by the Parc National de La Réunion to 'stop the loss of Réunion's biodiversity by saving two endemic petrels from extinction'.  Thanks to Tony Pym for the correction and my wife Carolyn for explaining it all to me in simple words.

Reference

Shirihai H., Pym T., San Román M. & Bretagnolle V. (2014). The Critically Endangered Mascarene Petrel, Pseudobulweria aterrima: identification and behaviour at sea, historical discovery of breeding sites, and breeding ecology on Réunion, Indian Ocean, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club, 134 (3) 194-223.

A pdf of the full paper can be downloaded here www.bou.org.uk/boc/shirihai-et-al.pdf

LIFE+ PETRELS - Halting the decline of endemic Petrels from Reunion Island: demonstration of large-scale innovative conservation actions