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title: "From Kerguelen to Australia: a banded Grey Petrel gets recovered after 28 years"
---

# From Kerguelen to Australia: a banded Grey Petrel gets recovered after 28 years

*![                               ](https://acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Petrels/G/Grey/Walt_Anderson_Grey_Petrel_12x18-_watercolour_Hadoram_Shirihai.JPG)  
Grey Petrel at sea, watercolour by [ABUN](https://abun4nature.org/) artist, Walt Anderson; after a photograph by Hadoram Shirihai*

 The corpse of an ACAP-listed Grey Petrel *Procellaria cinerea*([Near Threatened](http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/grey-petrel-procellaria-cinerea)) was collected on 11 June 2022 from [Middleton](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middleton,_South_Australia) Beach, South Australia (35° 31’S, 138° 43’E) wearing metal leg band No. DZ17839 and white engraved plastic band 042, as first reported by [Wildlife Welfare Organisation (SA)](http://www.wwosa.org.au/) on its [Facebook page](https://www.facebook.com/wildlifewelfareorgsa/).

 ![French Grey Petrel carcass](https://acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Petrels/G/Grey/French_Grey_Petrel_carcass.jpg)

 *The French-banded Grey Petrel recovered in Australia; its leg bands have been removed*

 The petrel was banded by [Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé](https://www.cebc.cnrs.fr/?lang=en), France as part of the project “Seabirds and Marine Mammals as Sentinels of Global Change in the Southern Ocean” (Project: 109 ORNITHOECO), supported by the French Polar Institute Paul Emile Victor ([IPEV](https://institut-polaire.fr/en/)) on 01 April 1994 as an adult of unknown gender on [Mayes Island](https://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2016/02/10/the-petrels-of-ile-mayes-iles-kerguelen/), [Kerguelen Archipelago](https://acap.aq/news/news-archive/60-2013-news-archive/1435-acap-breeding-site-no-39-iles-kerguelen-300-islands-supporting-10-acap-species) (49° 28′S, 69° 57′E). The bird was thus at least 28 years’ old when recovered thousands of kilometres from its banding site.  The bird was regularly observed in its study colony from 1994 – 2007, during which time it raised at least four chicks to fledging.  From the photograph the bird was not in a fresh condition when found, making identifying a cause of death problematic.

 With thanks to Karine Delord, Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, who received recovery details from Rebekah Collins, [Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme](https://www.dcceew.gov.au/science-research/bird-bat-banding).

 **Relevant Literature:**

 Delord, K., Barbraud, C., Pinaud, D., Ruault, S., Patrick, S. & Weimerskirch, H. 2019.  Individual consistency in non-breeding behavior in a long-distance migrant seabird, the Grey Petrel *Procellaria cinerea.  **[Marine Ornithology 47: 90-103](http://www.marineornithology.org/content/get.cgi?rn=1298)*.

 Torres, L.G., Sutton, P.J.H., Thompson, D.R., Delord, K., Weimerskirch, H., Sagar, P.M., Sommer, E., Dilley, B.J., Ryan, P.G. & Phillips, R.A. 2015.  Poor transferability of species distribution models for a pelagic predator, the Grey Petrel, indicates contrasting habitat preferences across Ocean Basins.  *[PLoS ONE. 2015, 10 (3), e0120014](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0120014)*.

 Barbraud, C., Delord, K., Marteau, C. & Weimerskirch, H. 2009.  Estimates of population size of white-chinned petrels and grey petrels at Kerguelen Islands and sensitivity to fisheries.  *[Animal Conservation 12: 258-265](https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1469-1795.2009.00248.x)*.

 *John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 19 July 2022*