Scientific name: Pterodroma hypoleuca
- Life Span: > 15 years
- Wingspan: 63-71 cm (25-28 in)
- Breeding Ecology:
- 1 egg/clutch, 1 egg/year
- Burrowing seabird (often digs burrows several meters long), philopatric (returns to nest in the same area year after year)
- Chicks hatch in March and fledge by June
- Breeds in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Volcano and Bonin Islands; fossils on Moloka‘i, O‘ahu, and Kaua‘i
- Midway population estimated at around 500,000 individuals in the late 1930s; introduction of rats in 1940s caused numbers to plummet to fewer than 5,000 birds by the 1980s. After rat eradication, the population is now estimated to exceed 300,000 individuals. Despite a large breeding population, little is known about this species.
- This is one of the few Pterodroma petrels that feeds mainly on fish, although squid are also an important food source.
- Bonin Petrels feed mainly at night and are nocturnally active on their breeding grounds; their eyes possess high levels of rhodopsin, a visual pigment that enhances nocturnal vision.