Even in high summer, seasoned bird watchers would count themselves lucky to see more than one or two tiny New Zealand storm petrels on a single trip. In fact, they were believed extinct just a decade ago. So the New Zealand Geographic Trust’s first supporters’ expedition to find at least one sparrowsized “stormie” somewhere in the vast Hauraki Gulf was always going to be a challenge.

Still, nil desperandum—serious birding requires equal quantities of tenacity and optimism. Sitting aboard the MV Torai as we began our long journey north from Sandspit, most of our 18- strong group were counting on expedition leader Chris Gaskin’s 100 per cent strike rate this summer, having spotted at least one storm petrel on every outing.

Within minutes we came across a raft of fluttering shearwaters that stretched as far as the eye could see. Several thousand birds were resting on the water, tuned in to the schools of kahawai swimming below. Dozens of blue penguins, easily spotted whenever the sunlight flashed on their white bellies, paddled among the shearwaters. Just off Takitu Point, a small pod of dolphins joined in, also eyeing up the kahawai.

The number of bird sightings increased dramatically the further north we went. Soon we were spotting Buller’s and flesh-footed shearwaters and black, diving and Cook’s petrels. Just off the Mokohinau Islands, huge flocks of red bill gulls, with shearwaters among them, were feeding over schools of trevally and possibly kingfish.

As we headed to Maori Rocks, we came across the last of the season’s grey ternlets. Around 170 of these birds spend each summer here before returning to their nesting sites on the Kermadec Islands.

And the search went on…soon we had spent close to six hours on the water, stopping to comb the skies and waters at spots where Gaskin had previously encountered New Zealand storm petrels. But just as we were about to head back to the mainland, he let out a whopping “whoa”, stopping the boat and raising everyone’s hopes. In the distance he had spotted a seabird that was about the right size. We all held our breath as we closed on the target, until the disappointment on his face revealed the truth—a white-faced petrel, a straggler yet to head east across the Pacific to waters off Ecuador.

In 11 hours we had covered a huge area of water. Gaskin reassured us that not finding a storm petrel wasn’t all bad news. “We’ve come across them all season until this trip,” he said. “When we plot our observations with environmental conditions, such as sea temperature, we’ll eventually get to see a pattern of behaviour.”

Gaskin is part of a group of bird enthusiasts and scientists determined to discover where the New Zealand storm petrels roost and breed. They plan to capture birds and attach transmitters which they will track back to the breeding colonies. They will also search outer gulf islands such as Little Barrier and the Mokohinau group for signs of the birds. Because numbers are so small, these sites are likely to be scattered among those of other seabirds rather than in one dense colony.

Trust supporters returned to shore weary but satisfied to have added something to our knowledge about this elusive bird’s behaviour. And of course, any day spent on the Hauraki Gulf among flocks of seabirds and in the company of such an enthusiastic expert as Chris Gaskin can only be memorable.