Bonin Petrel (Pterodroma hypoleuca) lives in open ocean across Pacific Ocean. It feeds on squid and fish. Its conservation status is Least Concern.
Fascinating facts about the Bonin Petrel
- The Bonin petrel is one of only two Pterodroma species that rely mainly on fish, with meals dominated by lantern fish and hatchetfish. Its diet is centred on Myctophidae and Sternoptychidae, both mid-water species that rise to the surface at night. Because these prey are nocturnal, the petrel feeds after dark, either while floating on the sea or in flight, aided by eyes rich in rhodopsin for night vision.
- Almost all Bonin petrels nest in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, with 995,000 birds - about 99 % of the world's population - breeding there, while a tiny 5,000 individuals (1 %) use the Ogasawara and Volcano Islands off Japan. These colonies are spread across French Frigate Shoals, Laysan, Lisianski, Pearl and Hermes Reef, Midway and Kure Atoll, as well as the Volcano and Bonin Islands.
- Polynesian rats on Kure Atoll once halted Bonin petrel reproduction entirely, producing no fledged chicks for five years in the 1960s, showing how vulnerable the birds are to introduced predators. When rats are absent, the species can achieve hatching success as high as 90 %, indicating that predation is the main limiting factor for chick survival. The petrel's breeding success therefore hinges on effective rat control and habitat protection on its remote islands.
- After black rats arrived on Midway in 1943, the Bonin petrel's population collapsed dramatically, falling from about 500,000 individuals to just 32,000 by 1995. The same invasive predators have devastated other colonies, with Polynesian rats on Kure Atoll preventing any chick fledging for five years in the 1960s. When rats are absent, hatching success can reach as high as 90 %, showing how strongly predation controls numbers.
- When the breeding season of Bonin petrels overlaps with that of the larger wedge-tailed shearwater, the shearwater will evict and sometimes kill Bonin petrel chicks to take over their burrows. This aggressive competition forces the petrels to defend a small territory around their nest entrance. Pairs maintain a defended zone of roughly two metres and will repeatedly chase intruders to protect their burrow.
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.
At a glance
RangePacific Ocean
HabitatOpen ocean
DietSquid and fish
About the Bonin Petrel
As the sun dips into the Pacific, the Bonin Petrel stirs, its slender form unfolding from the darkness of its burrow, stretching wings that will soon carry it across the moonlit waters in a mesmerizing dance of effortless glides and gentle swoops. With an ethereal silence, it takes to the air, its feathers a soft blur as it navigates the ocean's breeze with an innate mastery, a true marvel of evolutionary refinement. In this nocturnal world, the Bonin Petrel reigns, a phantom of the waves, its haunting calls echoing through the night as it weaves an enchanting spell of mystery and wonder.
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