A bird guide on the east coast of Australia had what is believed to be the first Beck’s Petrel sighting in 77 years. The guide managed to photograph the bird, according to Bird Life International.
The guide, Richard Baxter, was himself astonished to have taken what is believed to be the only photograph of the Beck’s Petrel. Baxter first believed the bird to be a more common bird, the Tahiti Petrel, but the size and coloration of the photographed bird has indicated the bird is the Beck’s.
The Beck’s Petrel is certainly rare, but Bird Life International lists the bird as threatened rather than extinct. The bird is known to nest on very remote atolls and islands, and the population is thought to be very small.
