White-chinned petrels have a blackish-brown head with a few white feathers under the bill. The body is blackish-brown and looks similar to the Westland petrel. The wings are also blackish-brown and can reach a wingspan of 1.47 metres.

White-chinned petrels forage across the southern ocean between the tropics and Antarctica. Breeding takes place annually in New Zealand from November to May at the Auckland, Campbell, and Antipodes Islands. It also breeds at several other islands in the southern oceans.

Flesh-footed shearwaters are considered ‘Range restricted’ by the Department of Conservation and ‘Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
It has been estimated that there are around 210,000 breeding pairs.

The diet of the white-chinned petrel is main up mainly of krill and fish.

White-chinned petrels are very vulnerable to fisheries impacts because they are adept divers known to congregate around longliners and trawlers. They are possibly the most frequently caught species on longlines in some areas and are caught in both longline and trawl fisheries in New Zealand.

International Union for Conservation of nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red list

New Zealand Threat Classification System list