---
title: "Starting off on the wrong wing: a Black Petrel goes west"
---

# Starting off on the wrong wing: a Black Petrel goes west

*![Rua Black Petrel 2026 08 02](https://acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Petrels/B/Black/Rua_Black_Petrel_2026-08-02_.jpg)Where is it now?  Rua, the Black Petrel’s journey to Australia as of 02 August 2026*

 *ACAP Latest News*[regularly reports](https://acap.aq/latest-news/across-the-southern-pacific-fledgling-black-petrels-start-arriving-in-ecuadors-waters-situation-with-black-petrerl-tracking-study-as-of-16-july-2-026-in-may-this-year-vulnerable-black-petrels-or-takoketai-procellaria-parkinsoni-begun-fledging-leaving?highlight=WyJibGFjayIsImJsYWNrcyIsInBldHJlbCIsInBldHJlbHMiLCJwZXRyZWxlcyIsInBldHJlbCdzIiwicGV0cmVsJyIsInBldHJlbHMnIiwyMDI2XQ==) on the fortunes of the ACAP-listed and globally [Vulnerable](https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/black-petrel-procellaria-parkinsoni) Black Petrel *Procellaria parkinsoni* that only breeds on New Zealand’s Little Barrier and Great Barrier Islands.  [Ongoing research](https://liveocean.org/researchers-explain-latest-data-from-largest-takoketai-black-petrel-study-ever/) by [Wildlife Management International](https://www.wmil.co.nz/?) shows that fledglings usually head eastwards to waters off Pacific South America, to return some years later to recruit as breeding birds.  The low level of return of banded juveniles is a serious cause of concern.

 *![Rua Black Petrel Gold Coast](https://acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Petrels/B/Black/Rua_Black_Petrel_Gold_Coast.png)Overly fanciful?  Rua taking it easy on Australia’s Gold Coast*

 But not every Black Petrel fledgling “gets the message” and one satellite-tracked bird, named Rua, has instead headed west to the waters off Queensland, Australia, having according to WMI’s Managing Director, Biz Bell, “a very relaxing time.”  See its track [here](https://www.facebook.com/reel/1020681753909430).

 Overall, the latest batch of tracked fledglings are currently a bit more spread out in the southern Pacific as Biz reports: “This season, chicks have ranged much further north than ever recorded before.  Some are already foraging off Ecuador and around the Galapagos Islands; others are working their way up and down the Ecuadorian and Peruvian coasts.  A few are still out in the open Pacific, cruising at roughly the same latitude as Guatemala, somewhere between Hawaii and the Pitcairn Island group.”

 You can follow the tracked birds, including the errant Rua, [here](https://liveocean.org/project/tracking-the-takoketai/).

 *John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels 04 August 2026*