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Norfolk Island birds - picture gallery
The black-winged petrel (Pterodroma nigripennis) is attempting to colonise Norfolk Island. Most birds are killed by cats but some breed successfully.
Black-winged petrels do not appear in the fossil record from the island. Pycroft's petrel (Pterodroma pycrofti), a rare species which now breeds only on the northeastern offshore islands of the North Island of New Zealand, once bred in very large numbers on Norfolk Island. Fossil deposits contain many bones of individuals killed and eaten by the now-extinct Norfolk Island goshawk.
A few black-winged petrels do avoid the cats and manage to breed successfully, and the chicks fledge in March and April. This fledgling had taken refuge in a recess in the concrete retaining wall outside the supermarket in Burnt Pine, and was released the following evening.
The highly aerobatic courting flights of black-winged petrels enliven the evenings on the northern coast of the island and throughout the day on Phillip Island, which lacks introduced mammals.
Wedge-tailed shearwaters (Puffinus pacificus) breed around the cliff tops of Norfolk Island and on Phillip Island.
They are killed by feral cats and the self-introduced nankeen kestrel (Falco cenchroides). Their burrows honeycomb the cliff tops but the population has declined over the past 25 years.
The Norfolk Island population is of the entirely dark morph. During the non-breeding season, the Norfolk Island population migrates but its destination is unknown. During World War II, breeding colonies on Mt Pitt and Mt Bates were removed because they interfered with the reception of the early-warning radar.
Until recently, the large booby breeding on Norfolk Island, in the Kermadec group to the east, and on Lord Howe Island to the west was thought to be a race of the widespread masked booby (Sula dactylatra). In addition, bones found on Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands had been attributed to a larger, extinct species, the Tasman booby (Sula tasmani).
Genetic and morphological studies on the living birds and fossil bones have shown that the Tasman Sea populations of these magnificent birds are distinct from other "masked" boobies: they are presently recognised as a subspecies, Sula dactylatra tasmani, but further work may support recognition at species level. The juvenile (right) has a distinctive plumage pattern that gradually gives way to the immaculate white (with dark flight feathers) of the adults (left).
The greater frigatebird (Fregata minor) is an increasingly
regular visitor to Norfolk Island. Most are
females (as here). Sometimes several have been seen together. They
harry the Tasman boobies and terns to get them to disgorge their food.
The red-tailed tropicbird (Phaethon rubricauda) is one of the most conspicuous seabirds on Norfolk Island. It breeds on the cliffs around the island and on some remote clifftops. The synchronised display flights are spectacular.
The white tern (Gygis alba) is relatively common on the island. It nests on tree branches. The chicks have to cling to the bark and are vulnerable to high winds, cats, rats, and even predatory self-introduced white-faced herons (Ardea novaehollandiae). White terns have not yet (re-)colonised Phillip Island.
The local subspecies (Todirhamphus sanctus norfolkensis) of the sacred kingfisher is conspicuous throughout the settled areas of the island.
One of several endemic songbirds on Norfolk Island, the Norfolk fantail (Rhipidura pelzelni) is still found in shrubby or forest areas throughout the island. Its total population is small, however, because the island is only c. 31 km2.
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