“For the first time in more than 100 years, endangered Polynesian storm petrels (Nesofregetta fuliginosa) have returned to a far-flung island in French Polynesia…

Researchers estimate that numbers of storm petrels were once quite high on Kamaka Island, as a relatively large number of individuals were recovered from an archeological site on the island. However none have been seen on the island since 1922. Now, only an estimated 250-1,000 individual birds remain in the wild.

Getting the birds to return required solving a serious problem: invasive rats that had driven the ground-nesting birds to local extinction by preying on their eggs, chicks and even adult birds…

In 2022, Island Conservation worked with ENVICO, an Aotearoa New Zealand-based drone company, to conduct more than 600 flights to spread rat poison across the island. As far as the team can tell from extensive surveying, the rats have been eradicated…

After confirming the rats were gone, the team focused on bringing the storm petrels back to Kamaka Island through social attraction or playing back the calls of a nearby colony to lure petrels in from the sea.”

From Monga Bay.