The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced its decision to apply endangered status to the black-capped petrel, citing threats including habitat loss due to deforestation and forest fires and predation by nonnative mammals, and finding that the designation of critical habitat is prudent but not determinable at this time.
USFWS added that other factors that currently affect the species or could affect the species in the future include development, offshore oil and gas infrastructure and activities, offshore and coastal wind energy infrastructure and activities, collisions with communication towers, and disorientation and grounding due to artificial lighting.
According to USFWS, the species spends most of its time in the northwestern Atlantic, with its range including an area extending offshore northern North Carolina to northern Florida, as well as the northern Gulf of Mexico.
