• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic source(s)
Brooke, M. de L. 2004. Albatrosses and Petrels Across the World. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Christidis, L. and Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
SACC. 2005 and updates. A classification of the bird species of South America. Available at: https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm.
Turbott, E.G. 1990. Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand. Ornithological Society of New Zealand, Wellington.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2021	Near Threatened	A2de+3de+4de
2018	Near Threatened	A2cde+3cde+4cde
2016	Near Threatened	A2cde+3cde+4cde
2012	Near Threatened	A2cde+3cde+4cde
2010	Near Threatened	A2c,d,e; A3c,d,e; A4c,d,e
2008	Near Threatened	A2c,d,e; A3c,d,e; A4c,d,e
2004	Near Threatened
2000	Lower Risk/Near Threatened
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	146,000,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	151500 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2015
Population trend	decreasing	poor	suspected	1995-2045
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	20-29%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	20-29%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	20-29%	-	-	-
Generation length	16.5 years	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	100%	-	-	-

Population justification: The most recent global population estimate places the number of breeding pairs at 75,610 (Phillip et al. 2016), equating to 151,220 mature individuals, rounded here to 151,500 mature individuals.

Trend justification: This species is susceptible to introduced mammalian predators, having been previously extirpated from Macquarie Island by cats and rats, and today, it is one of the bycatch species in longline fisheries in New Zealand waters. The population on the Kerguelen Islands may also be in decline due to fishery bycatch (Barbraud et al. 2009). Evidence from Gough Island, formerly thought to contain the largest population of this species, suggest that P. cinerea are likely to be subjected to considerable predation from introduced mice, which are a major predator on other winter-breeding seabirds. Hence moderately rapid declines are suspected, but further data are urgently required in order to more accurately assess its population numbers and trends.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Antarctica	extant	vagrant
Argentina	extant	native	yes
Australia	extinct	native		yes
Bouvet Island (to Norway)	extant	uncertain
Brazil	extant	vagrant			yes
Chile	extant	native	yes
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)	extant	native			yes
French Southern Territories	extant	native		yes
Heard Island and McDonald Islands (to Australia)	extant	uncertain
High Seas	extant	native			yes
Mozambique	extant	vagrant
Namibia	extant	vagrant
New Zealand	extant	native		yes
Peru	extant	native	yes
South Africa	extant	native		yes
South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands	extant	native			yes
St Helena (to UK)	extant	native		yes
Uruguay	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
French Southern Territories	Île de l'Est
French Southern Territories	Islands of the Golfe du Morbihan
New Zealand	Antipodes (offshore)
New Zealand	Antipodes Islands
Peru	Reserva Nacional de Paracas
South Africa	Prince Edward Islands Special Nature Reserve
St Helena (to UK)	Gough Island
St Helena (to UK)	Tristan Island

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Marine Neritic	Macroalgal/Kelp	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Macroalgal/Kelp	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Pelagic	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Pelagic	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Seagrass (Submerged)	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Seagrass (Submerged)	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Loose Rock/pebble/gravel	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Loose Rock/pebble/gravel	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Rock and Rocky Reefs	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Rock and Rocky Reefs	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy-Mud	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy-Mud	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Oceanic	Epipelagic (0-200m)	major	non-breeding
Marine Oceanic	Epipelagic (0-200m)	major	breeding
Marine Oceanic	Mesopelagic (200-1000m)	major	non-breeding
Marine Oceanic	Mesopelagic (200-1000m)	major	breeding
Shrubland	Subantarctic	major	breeding
Altitude	0 - 350 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Biological resource use	Fishing & harvesting aquatic resources - Unintentional effects: (large scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Felis catus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Gallirallus australis	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Mus musculus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Rapid Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Oryctolagus cuniculus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Reduced reproductive success
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Rattus norvegicus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Rattus rattus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national

---

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Grey Petrel Procellaria cinerea. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/grey-petrel-procellaria-cinerea on 23/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 23/12/2024.