Wingate: Foreword S 1 FOREWORD The rediscovery of the Cahow Pterodroma cahow (also known as the Haney and others discovered the core of the diablotins’ feeding Bermuda Petrel) on only 1 ha of islets after 300 years of presumed range in the Gulf Stream during the 1970s and 1980s, confirming extinction, and its subsequent recovery to a status of exponential what I had already concluded from my discoveries in Haiti: the growth, must surely rank as one of the most extraordinary conservation species still survived in substantial numbers despite what we had success stories of all time (Gehrman 2012) . It also revived hope that been led to expect . Indeed, there was strong evidence that the other seabird species, particularly in the Pterodroma genus, that were population had attained a new equilibrium within the constraints of decimated and lost to science during the era of European colonization human development pressures and introduced invasive species that of Oceania might have survived, inspiring searches with increasingly prevailed at the time . Nevertheless, and incredibly, it took another sophisticated techniques that have resulted in a cascade of other 50 years before that second stage of actually locating active nest successful rediscoveries right up to the present . sites was finally achieved . This begs the question, how were so many seabird species able to This monograph neatly brackets that era of rediscovery and survive, and why has it taken us so long to confirm their continued introduces us to the next era of nest site discovery and conservation existence? The explanation is that no other group of species management . It took the application of sophisticated new techniques has posed such a challenge in detection once greatly reduced in of mobile radar and thermal imaging cameras to take off the population . They range widely dispersed over vast stretches of blinders and finally break the logjam . This has resulted in a flood ocean; breed only in the most hostile and inaccessible environments of additional nest discoveries within the last two years through of remote offshore islets and mountaintops; come and go from their the combined efforts of Grupo Jaragua and the American Bird breeding grounds only at night; and nest only in burrows or cavities Conservancy . With nest site discovery, other modern technologies totally concealed from daytime searches without such aids as sniffer such as light-sensitive geolocators and mini-transmitters for satellite dogs and burrow scopes . tracking can now be used to reveal the at-sea range of specific nest colonies in greater detail, as already achieved for the Cahow If the goal of rediscovery is ultimately to preserve and restore these (Madeiros 2012) . But new technology can work both ways . Who “lost” species, then it can be seen that there are three stages to the could have anticipated the advent of cellular telephones, which have process and only in the third stage does conservation management resulted in a proliferation of telecommunications masts on many become possible . The first stage is rediscovery itself in the sense of Caribbean island mountaintops — precisely in the areas where the proving that the species still survives; the second stage is locating largest remnant colonies of the petrels survive? I remember my the actual nest sites so that conservation management becomes dismay, and my urgent warning about the hazard, which I expressed possible; and the third stage is conservation management itself, when I revisited the Loma del Toro colony in the Sierra de Bahoruco which may or may not result in a partial or complete recovery of the in 1989 and saw the newly erected telecommunications mast there . population . In the case of the Cahow, it took 300 years for the first I had already had to address the same problem of bright lights and stage, another 10 years to find all the nest sites, and 30 more years stay wires in connection with the Cahow many years before . to build the foundations for a significant level of recovery under conservation management . Relatively few of the other rediscovered We are now on the threshold of that third stage of conservation species have moved very far into the second stage and only one management for the diablotin, and I have no illusions about how or two, such as the Taiko of Chatham Island and Zino’s Petrel of challenging a task it is going to be . At sea, the petrel may soon face an Madeira, can boast of any progress into the third stage of actually additional threat from oil exploration within its core range . On land, reversing trends from decline to increase . it will not be as easy to manage those mountaintop sanctuaries as it is to manage uninhabited satellite islands (Wingate 2001) . Exclosures Looking now at the history of the diablotin (the traditional Caribbean using sophisticated new predator-proof fences developed in New name for the Black-capped Petrel), my successful expedition of Zealand will likely have to play a part . But both types of location rediscovery in 1963 was the first of that cascade of rediscoveries can benefit from the installation of seabird nest boxes combined inspired by the Cahow . It was also the first to use the new technique with audio attraction and nestling translocation to accelerate nest of listening for nest colonies at night in likely areas — a technique establishment at higher concentrations in protected locations . In learned from my own experience with the Cahows . Nevertheless, Haiti and other Caribbean islands, the challenge of reforestation it had already taken 90 years to reach that first stage, and I did not and biodiversity conservation is going to have to begin from the succeed in finding nest sites myself . That was not for want of trying, mountaintops working downward, so the diablotin should be one of as documented in this monograph . In 1966 a government position the earliest beneficiaries . The groundwork for National Parks in Haiti was created for me in Bermuda which enabled me to devote my and the Dominican Republic have already been laid by the pioneering efforts full-time to conservation issues on Bermuda . While thinking efforts of Woods, Servile and Ottenwalder back in the 1980s, and and acting globally had been exciting and productive, the time had progress is now being accelerated by the Declaratión de Santo come to act locally, for I had realized by then that it was a far cry Domingo: Corredor Biológica en el Caribe 2010, inspiring increased from rediscovering a species to actually managing and restoring it . cooperation and assistance from First World development agencies, The challenge of saving the Cahow in my own homeland would charities and research institutions . The most recent Conservation be a lifetime commitment, let alone trying to save the diablotin Action Plan of the International Black-capped Petrel Conservation in a country that I could visit only occasionally (Haiti) and where Group (Goetz et al . 2012), working in close cooperation with I didn’t even speak the languages . Meanwhile, David Lee, Chris Haitian and Dominican colleagues and tied into local community Marine Ornithology 41 (Special Issue): S 1–S 2 (2013) S 2 Wingate: Foreword development, is an admirable example of the way forward, but GOETZ, J .E ., NORRIS, J .H . & WHEELER, J .A . (Eds .) . 2012 . ultimately it will depend on homegrown conservationists from those Conservation Action Plan for the Black-capped Petrel same local communities to achieve long-term success . The diablotin, (Pterodroma hasitata) . International Black-capped Petrel with its extraordinary history of survival in the face of adversity, will Conservation Group . http://www .fws .gov/birds/waterbirds/ become an iconic symbol of success in meeting that challenge . petrel/pdfs/PlanFinal .pdf . Accessed 8 May 2012 . MADEIROS, J . Cahow recovery program 2011–2012 breeding David B. Wingate 9 Mar 2013 season report . Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo Library P .O . Box CR 86 accession no . 2510 . Terrestrial Conservation Division, Crawl, Hamilton Parish Department of Conservation Services, Ministry of Public Works, Bermuda, CR BX Bermuda Government . davidb .wingate@gmail .com WINGATE, D . 2001 . Strategies for successful biodiversity conservation and restoration on small oceanic islands: some REFERENCES examples from Bermuda . In: Pienkowski, M . (Ed .) CALPE 2000: linking the fragments of paradise: an international GEHRMAN, E . 2012 . Rare birds: the extraordinary tale of conference on environmental conservation in small territories . the Bermuda Petrel and the man who brought it back from Gibraltar Ornithological & Natural History Society . pp . 16–25 . extinction . New York: Random House . Marine Ornithology 41 (Special Issue): S 1–S 2 (2013) Simons et al .: Biography of the Black-capped Petrel S 3 DIABLOTIN PTERODROMA HASITATA: A BIOGRAPHY OF THE ENDANGERED BLACK-CAPPED PETREL THEODORE R . SIMONS1, DAVID S . LEE2 & J . CHRIS HANEY3 1US Geological Survey, NC Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Unit, Department of Biology, NC State University, Raleigh, NC 27695 ([email protected]) 2The Tortoise Reserve, P.O. 7082, White Lake, NC 28337 ([email protected]) 3Defenders of Wildlife, 1130 17th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036 ([email protected]) Received 12 September 2012, accepted 11 February 2013 SUMMARY SIMONS, T.R., LEE, D.S. & HANEY, J.C. 2013. Diablotin Pterodroma hasitata: a biography of the endangered Black-capped Petrel . Marine Ornithology 41(Special Issue): S 3–S 43 . The Black-capped Petrel Pterodroma hasitata was believed extinct throughout much of the 20th century . It is the only gadfly petrel currently known to breed in the Caribbean Basin . Now seriously endangered, the species is presumed extirpated from Martinique, Dominica, and Guadeloupe, and breeding populations currently occur only on Hispaniola and perhaps Cuba . A related form (now considered a full species) once bred, but is now apparently extinct, on Jamaica . The Black-capped Petrel breeding population may number as few as 500 breeding pairs .