Raivavae: a breeding hotspot for petrels and shearwaters in French Polynesia

Wedge-tailed Shearwaters Ardenna pacifica breed on Raivavae

Vincent Bretagnolle (Centre d’Études Biologiques de Chizé, Beauvoir sur Niort, France) and colleagues have published in the open access journal Marine Ornithology on procellariid seabirds breeding n the French Polynesian island of Raivavae, including three species of shearwaters and five species of gadfly petrels.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Raivavae is a small island in the Austral Islands of French Polynesia that is surrounded by a lagoon with 28 islets.  Its marine avifauna is one of the least known and least studied in French Polynesia.  Overall, seabird surveys in the various Austral Islands have been extremely sparse.  This study addresses this need, using both historical and recent findings.  The results show high species richness, with 10 breeding procellarid [sic] species, though none are numerous.  We also update the knowledge on breeding petrels from other Austral Islands (except Rapa) and discuss the consequences of these findings in terms of their conservation on an island with cats Felis sp. and rats Rattus sp.”

Reference:

Bretagnolle, V., David, Y., Ghestemme, T., Butaud, J.-F., Withers, T., Shirihai, H. & Thibault, J.-C. 2025.  A petrel breeding diversity hotspot: Raivavae Island (Austral Islands, French Polynesia), with a need for conservation action.  Marine Ornithology 53: 163-171.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 08 April 2025