Black-winged Petrel

Karetai kapa mangu is a small, long-winged gadfly petrel with a pale body and a bold black M across the upperwings. A white forehead, dark eye patch, grey crown and sharply black outer underwing contrast with the white body. Cook’s petrel is slimmer-billed and shows a different dark pattern beneath the wing.

It breeds in large numbers on the Kermadec Islands and on islands off northern New Zealand, then disperses across the tropical Pacific. Fast arcing flight carries it over warm seas for squid, fish and crustaceans; pairs lay one egg in a burrow.

Black-winged petrel is Not Threatened (NZ Threat Classification). Rats and cats destroy colonies, and fledglings can be disoriented by lights. Hauraki Gulf and Bay of Plenty pelagic trips may see birds in the breeding season; Kermadec waters hold the greatest concentrations.