GIBSON'S ALBATROSS

Photographed off Kaikoura, South Island, New Zealand, April, 2019

(* 1237)                   GIBSON'S ALBATROSS                Diomedea gibsoni

NEW ZEALAND               111

Also known as Auckland Island Albatross or Gibson's Wandering Albatross. Considered by some to be a subspecies of Wandering Albatross and by some to be a subspecies of Antipodean Albatross and by others to be a full species. Breed only on the subantarctic Auckland Islands archaepeligo of New Zealand. Breeding females feed mainly in Tasman sea while male forage further in the sub Australian or mid Pacific sectors of Southern Ocean. Feed mainly on fish, cephalopods and crustaceans; feed on surface or shallow dives just below.

WHITE-CHINNED PETREL

Photographed off Kaikoura, South Island, New Zealand, April, 2019

(*  965)                 WHITE-CHINNED PETREL                Procellaria aequinoctialis

NEW ZEALAND             110

Also known as Shoemaker. Breeds circumpolar subantarctic, including Antipodes, Auckland and Campbell Islands. Occasionally seen near mainland New Zealand but mainly ranges to south and east.

WESTLAND PETREL

Photographed off Kaikoura, South Island, New Zealand, April, 2019

(*  1254)                  WESTLAND PETREL                 Procellaria westlandica

NEW ZEALAND             109

Uncommon endemic. About 4000 pairs breed only in the forested coastal foothills of the Paparoa Range between Barrytown and Punakaiki, West Coast, South Island. In breeding season seen mainly off east coast, Cook Strait and West Coast but ranges west to Australia; migrates to central or eastern South Pacific.