White-faced Storm Petrel

Takahikare is a tiny grey-and-white seabird famous for bounding over the sea on long legs as it feeds. A white face crossed by a grey eye-stripe, grey back, white underparts and very long dangling legs separate it from the smaller, dark-faced grey-backed storm petrel.

It breeds on small predator-free islands around mainland New Zealand, the Chathams and Auckland Islands, then migrates to the tropical eastern Pacific from about April to August. It hops and patters over the surface for planktonic crustaceans and small fish; pairs share incubation of one egg in a burrow.

White-faced storm petrel is At Risk — Relict (NZ Threat Classification). Even mice can destroy colonies, so breeding is restricted to predator-free islands. Hauraki Gulf and other offshore pelagic trips see it during the August–April breeding season, especially near north-eastern colonies.