Action timeline

November 24, 1980 – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service received a petition from the International Council for Bird Preservation to list the Galápagos petrel under the Endangered Species Act.

May 12, 1981 – The Service made a positive 90-day finding on the petition.

May 10, 1985 - November 21, 1991 – The Service published five annual notices continuing to find that the species warranted listing but that listing was precluded due to other priorities.

2003 – The Center sued the Service over its delay in issuing proposed listing rules for 73 rare foreign birds in need of protection, including the Galápagos petrel.

May 21, 2004 – The Service published another annual notice continuing to find that the species warranted listing but that protection was precluded due to other priorities.

April 23, 2007 – The Service published an annual notice finding the species warranted listing.

December 18, 2007 – The Service proposed to list the Galápagos petrel as a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act.

June 15, 2009 – The Center and the Fish and Wildlife Service reached a settlement agreement requiring the Service to submit to the Federal Register a final determination for the species by December 29, 2009.

January 5, 2010 – The Service finalized a rule to protect the Galápagos petrel and Heinroth's shearwater as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, as well as proposing listing determinations for 12 birds from Peru, Bolivia, Europe, and French Polynesia.

Galápagos petrel photo © Mike Danzenbaker/www.avesphoto.com