A vast online database of photos, videos and sound recordings collected by the public have allowed researchers to identify and track a threatened, highly restricted subspecies of seabird. 

The rare Kermadec Storm Petrel has long eluded study; the population has an estimated population of just 100 to 300 breeding pairs. 

By analysing more than 1,000 publicly available photographs from platforms including the Macaulay Library via eBird, museum specimens and published records, a team of researchers were able to get never-before-seen insight into the lives of these rare birds.

The study, led by UNSW Sydney, manually scored subtle physical traits, including rump colour and tail shape, and used statistical modelling to determine which features reliably distinguish the subspecies.

“If you can’t identify something, you can’t know where it exists and where it doesn’t,” said lead author Simon Gorta, a PhD candidate at UNSW Sydney.

Once classified, those records could be mapped, revealing that the birds travel far beyond their known breeding site. Confirmed sightings now span the Tasman and Coral seas, including records off Australia’s east coast.

Their findings were published in the journal Diversity and Distributions and shows how these citizen datasets can be turned into practical tools for conservation, helping scientists identify and track species that have long eluded study.

“As we now know they’re crossing the Tasman and Coral seas, we can start to work out what threats they might be facing away from their breeding grounds,” said co-author Peter Allen, a PhD. candidate at Monash University.

The researchers say the same approach could be applied to other animals and plants wherever traits can be measured from existing media.

Citizen science projects have grown across the world. Earlier this month, the largest citizen science survey of Great Barrier Reef undertaken, Citizens of the Reef, called on volunteers globally to analyse and explore the vast wealth of images gathered by the public as part of their citizen science project. 

A new project in Kenya, The World Unseen, is also aiming to build local capacity for reef monitoring, documentation – enabling local citizens to lead ongoing conservation independently.  

These citizen science projects, researchers hope, have the potential to fill critical gaps in conservation knowledge.

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