New Caledonian Storm-Petrel – lost and found
Fregetta lineata

The amazing story of two birds lost and found: The New Zealand Storm-Petrel (Fregetta maoriana) and the New Caledonian Storm-Petrel (F. lineata).

Part one: The New Zealand Storm-Petrel was discovered in 1827 and formally described as Pealeornis maoriana three years later (Quoy & Gaimard 1830). It was then not seen for 176 years and was declared extinct. Fortunately, it was rediscovered in 2003 (Stephenson et al. 2008) and eventually shown to nest in the Hauraki Gulf, NZ (Rayner et al. 2015). Taxonomically it was moved from Pealeornis maoriana to Oceanites maorianus and eventually to Fregetta maoriana (Robertson et al. 2016). There are no records in Queensland but sightings have been reported from nearby NSW.

Part two: In 1839, twelve years after the New Zealand Storm-Petrel, another storm-petrel was discovered on Upolu, Samoa, the ‘White-lined Petrel Thalassidroma lineata’ (Peale 1848). Incredibly, this bird was also not seen for 169 years. Mathews described and illustrated both storm-petrel species in detail and moved Thalassidroma lineata to Pealea lineata in honour of Peale (Mathews 1933). Murphy doubted the validity of the ‘White-lined Petrel’ and coined the term ‘“Pealea” phenomenon’, which suggests that in all white-bellied populations of different storm-petrel species, streaked individuals occur (Murphy 1952). He concluded that the ‘White-lined Petrel’ was a streaked variant of Black-bellied Storm-Petrel (F. tropica). The bird was then rediscovered in 2008 off Nouméa, New Caledonia, but misidentified as a New Zealand Storm-Petrel at the time (Howell & Collins 2008). Its true identity was later corrected when we and others documented the first and second records for Australia on the same weekend in 2010 off Ulladulla and Port Stephens, NSW. From this point on the bird was called ‘New Caledonian Storm-Petrel’. 

Since 2011, we documented more than 170 New Caledonian Storm-Petrels on pelagics run in the Coral Sea off Southport, South-East Queensland (organiser: Paul Walbridge; skipper: Craig Newton). Most of them were observed on the Queensland and Britannia Seamounts, >100 nautical miles off SEQ and NE-NSW, but some as close as 25 nautical miles off Southport. New Caledonian Storm-Petrel season is October through to June in Queensland waters, while they appear to be absent from July through to September. This makes our region, SEQ, the prime location to find this special bird.

In addition, 77 New Caledonian Storm-Petrels were reported from New Caledonia, where the species is assumed to nest, based on the observation of a recent fledgling (Bretagnolle et al. 2022). The documentation of these almost 250 individuals soon debunked Murphy’s (1952) theory that the New Caledonian Storm-Petrel was just a streaked variant of Black-bellied Storm-Petrel. Morphological analysis places the bird in the same genus with Black-bellied, New Zealand and White-bellied Storm-Petrel (Fregetta grallaria), and is now called New Caledonian Storm-Petrel (Fregetta lineata), genetic analysis is pending (Bretagnolle et al. 2022).

The New Caledonian Storm-Petrel is phenotypically similar to the New-Zealand Storm-Petrel, but shows distinct differences that are demonstrated in the two CSIRO field guides: The Australian Bird Guide (Menkhorst et al. 2017) and the The Compact Australian Bird Guide (Davies et al. 2022); see Figure 1.

Storm-petrels © Raja W. Stephenson

Figure 1: Photographs demonstrating the differences of the Fregetta taxa recorded in Australia.
Pale morph White-bellied Storm-Petrel (F. grallaria grallaria, ‘Tasman Storm-Petrel’) with sharply demarcated short bib, extensive white underwing coverts and short legs. Black-bellied Storm-Petrel (F. tropica) with ‘dirty v-neck’, often (but not always) a black belly stripe, dark grey underwing coverts and long legs. New Zealand Storm-Petrel (F. maoriana) with finely streaked underparts, extensive white underwing coverts and short outer primaries. New Caledonian Storm-Petrel (F. lineata) with boldly streaked underparts, dark grey underwing coverts and long outer primaries. New Caledonian Storm-Petrel is also larger than New Zealand Storm-Petrel.

References:

1. Bretagnolle V, Flood RL, Gaba S & Shirihai H (2022): Bull. B.O.C. 2022 142: 111-130.
2. Howell SNG & Collins C (2008): Birding World 21: 207–209.
3. Mathews GM (1933): Novitates Zoologicae 39: 34-54. 
4. Murphy RC & Snyder JP (1952): American Museum Novitates Vol. 1596. New York.
5. Peale TR (1848): United States Exploring Expedition during the years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842 under the command of Charles Wilkes, U.S.N. Vol. VIII. Mammalia and Ornithology. Philadelphia.
6. Quoy JRC & Gaimard P (1830): Zoologie, tome premier. In J. Dumont d’Urville, Voyage de découvertes de l’Astrolabe exécuté par ordre du Roi, pendant les années 1826-1827-1828-1829. Paris.
7. Rayner MJ, Gaskin CP, Fitzgerald NB, Baird KA, Berg MM, Boyle D, Joyce L, Landers TJ,
8. Loh GG, Maturin S, Perrimen L, Scofield RP, Simm J, Southey I, Taylor GA, Tennyson AJD, Robertson BC, Young M, Walle R & Ismar SMH (2015): Ibis 157: 754–766.
9. Robertson BC, Stephenson BM, Ronconi RA, Goldstien SJ, Shepherd L, Tennyson A, Carlile N & Ryan PG (2016): Mol. Phyl. & Evol. 97: 170–176.
10. Stephenson BM, Flood RL, Thomas B & Saville S (2008): Notornis 55: 77–83.