Seabirds of Lord Howe Island

Seabirds, also known as marine birds, are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment.

Little Shearwater
(Puffinus assimilis)

Little Pied Cormorant
(Phalacrocorax melanoleucos)

Great Cormorant
(Phalacrocorax carbo)

Little Black Cormorant
(Phalacrocorax sulcirostris)

Pomarine Jaeger
(Stercorarius pomarinus)

Fairy Prion
(Pachyptila turtur)

Red-Billed Tropicbird
(Phaethon aethereus)

Wingspan 1100mm body weight of 500g
When these have flashed through I have only managed to get one good picture. We don’t see many here.

Wingspan 1800mm body weight of 2.2kg.
This great bird is here all the time, breeds on the outer islands and two places on the main island, has a chick by September. Can be viewed on Mutton Bird Point from the viewing platform. You can tell male and female apart by their call the male whistles and the female honks. Boobies dive into the water to get their food from about 30m up.

Masked Booby
(Sula dactylatra fullageri)

Brown Booby
(Sula leucogaster)

Kelp Gull
(Larus dominicanus)

Australasian Gannet
(morus serrator)

Brown Noddy
(Anous stolidus)

Wingspan 820mm, body weight of 200g
Breeds on Lord Howe on small bushes around the cliffy slopes Spring -Summer. You can see them at Old Gulch, south end of Blinkie beach and Mutton Bird point. Not as dark as the Black Noddy so the white cap on the head isn’t as prominent also a bit bigger than the Black.

Grey Ternlet
(Procelsterna cerulea)

Gull-billed Tern (whiskered pic)
(Sterna nilotica)

Caspian Tern
(Sterna caspia)

Wingspan 1300mm body weight of 574-782g
Only a blow in to Lord Howe. We may see one or two here per year, great looking bird.

Black Noddy
(Anous minutes)

Red-tailed Tropicbird
(Phaethon rubricaudra)

Southern Skua
(Stercorarius antarctics)

Sooty Tern
(Sterna fuscata)

White tern
(Gygis alba)

Wingspan 750mm body weight of 110g.
Breeds on lord Howe from September to May. They don’t make any nest at all just lay on the branch of a tree. Arrived on the island in the 1940 and come back every year.

Wedge-tailed Shearwater
(Puffinus pacificus)

Wingspan 980mm body weight of 320-510g
A widespread seabird that nests throughout tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans. Breeds August to May in short burrows on the off shore islands and also on the island, eg Flagstaff Point and near Pinetrees boat shead.

White-bellied Storm Petrel
(Fregetta grallaria)

Wingspan of 460mm body weight 46-74g.
This a very hard bird to photograph as he is so fast and so small, the smallest sea bird on the ocean. Breeds on the outer islands around Lord Howe. Population on Lord Howe is polymorphic. You can find the black morph if you are lucky, only a very few like this.

Hutton’s Shearwater
(Puffinus huttoni)

Flesh-footed Shearwater
(Puffinus carneipes)

Short-tailed Shearwater
(Puffinus tenuirostris)

Wingspan 970mm body weight of 480-800g
Short-tailed Shearwaters don’t breed here they just come zooming through in their thousands. We see them passing the island in October and November each year on their way back from the North Pacific Ocean. They breed on Tasmanian islands and Southeast Australia (November to December they lay)

Campbell Albatross
(Thalassarche impavida)

Northern Giant Petrel
(Macronectes halli)

Wingspan 1900mm body weight of 3.8-5kg.
We see the odd one here over the winter months, breeds southern ocean islands eg Macquarie Is, has a pinkish tip to bill.

White-necked Petrel
(Ptreodroma cervicalis)

White-headed Petrel
(Pterodroma lessonii)

White-chinned Petrel
(Procellaria aequinoctialis)

Wingspan 1400mm, body weight 1.3-1.39kg.
A southern ocean bird, breeds southern ocean islands and some NZ islands. First record for Lord Howe, very rare around here. A very distinctive bill. My only sighting of this bird.

Tahiti Petrel
(Pseudobulweria rostrate)

Kermadec Petrel
(Pterodroma neglecta)

Southern Giant Petrel
(Macronectes giganteus)

Wingspan 1950mm body weight 3.8-5kg Bill has greenish tip.
We see this great bird here over the winter months, not common.

Providence Pertel
(Pterodroma solandri)

Grey-faced Pertel
(Pterodroma gouldi)

Great-Winged Petrel
(Pterodroma macroptera)

Cape Petrel
(Daption capense)

Wingspan 850mm.
Only see a few of these over the winter months at Lord Howe. Breeds on ice free coast of Antarctica, South Georgia and southern ocean islands.

Gould’s Petrel
(Pterodroma leucoptera)

Cook’s Petrel
(Pterodroma cookii)

Black-winged Petrel
(Peterodroma nigripennis)

Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross

Wingspan 2m, breeds Southeast Indian Ocean Islands first record for Lord Howe Island. Only has the yellow on the upper bill

Shy Albatross

Buller’s Albatross

Black Browed Albatross

Wandering Albatross

Wingspan 970mm body weight 380-545g
We see this Southwest Pacific bird here over the summer months, not in big numbers only ones and twos. Looks like a Black-winged but a fair bit bigger.

Wingspan 1009mm, body weight 580-800g.
A southern ocean bird, breeds southern ocean islands and some NZ islands. I have seen this bird twice at Lord Howe in winter, very rare around here.

Wingspan 840mm, body weight 300g.
Petrel of the tropical Pacific, First record for Lord Howe, very rare around here. My only sighting of this bird.

Wingspan 1500mm body weight of 2kg.
This bird is the largest of the Skua’s, breeds in the southern ocean islands feeds on almost anything it can scrounge. Large powerful looking bird.

Wingspan 900mm body weight of 180g
Sooty terns or Wide-a-wake as locals call them are the most abundant sea bird here over summer around 100,000 of them. They are here from August to May. Lord Howe being the only place in NSW where they breed. Easy to find this one Neds Beach, Mt Eliza and North bay. Their eggs were once collected in the good old days for food.

Wingspan 2.5m
Breads on Albatross, Mewstone and Pedra Blanca Islands.

Wingspan 1050mm Body weight of 700g
Can be seen here most of the year best over the summer months. Breeds here in the rocky cliffs around the Island. Easy to find along the Kim’s Lookout ridge. A great bird to photograph.

Wingspan 1100mm body weight of 420g
This guy must have got lost!! The first record for this bird in Australia was on Lord Howe last November 2010. Great bird to watch fly, he is much faster than the Red tailed and very vocal. Be nice if he brought a mate back. Breeds Tropical Atlantic, Indian Ocean and Eastern Pacific.

Wingspan 1000mm, body weight 500g.
Tasman Sea endemic, Breeds on Lord Howe Island from March to November. The best time to see them here is April. Large numbers gather around the mountain tops each year to produce one chick. A fantastic sight to behold, one of my favourite LHI birds

Wingspan 630mm body weight of 220-260g
A very hard bird to photograph as he doesn’t come close to boats often, so my shot of this guy aren’t great. A small fast flying Shearwater, breeds on the outer islands and a few breed on the main island in small burrows. Can be seen here from April to November if your lucky!!

This bird drops in every now and again; I only have one picture I couldn’t get close enough. They range all around the coast of Australia and NZ. Breed in NZ and Australia.

These guys drop in every year and stay for a while. There are here now (15/12/11) sitting down at the park every day after they feed.

You can find this bird here all year around, only at sea. The only place in Australia it breeds is Balls Pyramid, 23km south east of Lord Howe. Once bread on LHI but rats pushed it off the main Island. There are three different phase, Dark morph, Intermediate morph and Light morph. White flashes on upper wing and also lower wing.

Wingspan 1350mm body weight of around 2kg.
We saw this one sitting on Balls Pyramid last Sunday 4/12/11 not a good picture as I couldn’t get the boat close enough in the rather large swell. Breeds in NZ and Southern parts of Australia. A first sighting for me.

Wingspan 750mm body weight of 242-378g
Breeds in NZ endemic. We only see the odd one or two here, just moving through. Very fast on the wing so hard to photograph.

Wingspan 800mm body weight of 250g
This bird was blown over here during winter this year (2011) when we had some very strong West winds. First time I have seen one. Breeds in Australia and Asia.

Wingspan 520mm body weight of 70g.
Present here all year round, Lord Howe is the only breeding ground in Australia. Local fisherman use this bird to locate fish, common name used by locals is Blue Billy.

Wingspan 1000mm, body weight 595-740g.
New Zealand endemic, Breeds on islands of the north east coast of NZ north island. Can see at Lord Howe over spring and summer, hard to tell apart from Great- winged.

Wingspan 970mm, weight 440-680g.
Not a common visitor to Lord Howe.
Breeds Sub-Antarctic and Antarctic islands.

These guys drop in every year and stay for a while, large all black with a yellow face. I found this one down at Balls Pyramid a year ago. Breeds on the Atlantic coast of North America.

Albatross are only visitors to the island, so you are lucky to see one. Over winter, autumn and spring is the best time of year to find Albatross around Lord Howe Island. They bread on islands south of New Zealand and also islands in the southern ocean. Over the years I have seen seven different species of Albatross around Lord Howe Island. Sea to Summit Expeditions do regular sea bird tours on MV ” Noctiluca” down to Balls pyramid and back around the Island.

Wingspan 600mm.
Another fairly rare visitor to Lord Howe. Breeds on CabbageTree island off the south-east coast of Australia.

Wingspan 1150mm body weight of 533-800g
Breed on Lord Howe, bird get back here in mid to late August after being on the wing as far north as the coast of Siberia, lay their egg in burrows about 1-2m long. Both parents take turns in the incubation and raising the chick. It is believed that they can swim down to gather food to 50m deep!! The population of these beautiful sea birds has crashed in the last 10 years from 22 thousand pair to 10 thousand. Plastics, long line fishing and deaths due to road kill on the island are the cause. $10 per person from our sightseeing trips goes to this cause. Check out this link www.jenniferlavers.org

Wingspan 560mm body weight of 90g
We see this bird here most winters but this year was the only time I have managed to get a picture of one. Breeds on islands off Tasmania and Victoria.

Wingspan 660mm
A rare sighting for Lord Howe, I shot this one October 2010 the only sighting of this bird for our waters. Breeds on southern NZ islands endemic.

Wingspan 2200mm body weight of 2.2-3.8kg
We see this beautiful bird over the winter months here. Breeds on Campbell Island off NZ. Common in NZ waters, moves through the Tasman sea and South Pacific when not breeding. You can tell him apart from the Black- browed by his yellow eye.

Wingspan 2.1m
Breeds on New Zealand Islands endemic.

Wingspan 1700mm-1900mm body weight of 2kg.
I only have the one shot of this guy. We do see them only every now and again. More common from Queensland north.

Black- winged Petrels breed on Lord Howe and the outer islands. Can be seen here at sea and down at Neds beach

Wingspan 200–240 cm
Average weight of 2.9–4.7 kg
Natural Lifespan of over 70 years
Breads on 12 Islands throughout the southern oceans.
Lord Howe Island is frequented by those Black Browed Albatross’ that breed in Chile

Wingspan 700mm body weight of 100g
Black Noddy’s are here over the summer months you can find them breeding in the pinetrees at the north end of North bay. By November they have their chick.

Wingspan 1700mm-1900mm body weight of 2kg.
I only have the one shot of this guy. We do see them around over summer but not in large numbers. Breeds in NZ and Southern Australia.