Chatham petrels once bred in millions along the coastline of Main Chatham. When Polynesian people settled the islands 800 years ago, the birds became extirpated due to the effects of introduced rats. They were limited to only one tiny population of around 300 pairs on South East Island/Rangatira.

In 2006, the Taiko Trust created the predator free Sweetwater Conservation Covenant to provide a secure breeding area for taiko. However, it soon became clear that the site could be used for wider seabird conservation. At the same time, the Trust decided to expand its conservation aims and was eager to be involved in other projects as well. In 2008, the Trust secured funding to carry out the transfer of petrel chicks from Rangatira to Sweetwater. That year, 47 chicks were shifted to artificial burrows built by Te One School children. Fed a daily mixture of blended sardines, the chicks grew for three to four weeks until fledging. Between 2008 and 2011, a total of 200 Chatham petrel chicks were transferred from Rangatira to Sweetwater.

The chicks remain out at sea for their first three to four years before returning to the site from which they fledged to look for a partner and start breeding themselves. It is this homing instinct that makes it possible to move chicks, which will then return to the release site to breed, hence starting a new colony.

On 15 March 2012, a week-old Chatham petrel chick was found in an artificial burrow at Sweetwater. This was the first recorded breeding of this species on Main Chatham, and represented the beginning of the re-establishment of the species back onto the Main Island. The parents of the chick had been translocated as nestlings in April 2008 and April 2009. They had both been recorded as visiting the same burrow where the chick was found for the first time in late April and early May 2011 as non-breeders. At the time of these first colony visits, one of the birds was just over two years old, reflecting the youngest age that adults are known to return to land.

Returning this extirpated species to the Main Island was a rewarding challenge and an important step in reinstalling a key ecosystem species.

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