The flesh-footed shearwater flies with a heavy, slow wingbeat and a slightly hunched posture. It is not graceful. It is not fast. It is persistent. This large, dark seabird covers thousands of kilometres of open ocean every year. It does not seem to find this remarkable. The plumage is dark brown, almost black, with a pale bill and pinkish feet. The feet are the giveaway. The name refers to their colour. On a dark bird at sea, the pale feet are visible. They paddle in the water. They catch the light. Feeding involves fish and squid. The bird dives from the surface or plunges shallowly. It follows fishing vessels, taking discards and offal. Like many seabirds, it has learned that boats mean food. That lesson is dangerous. The hooks kill. The flight is heavy and direct, with long glides and slow flaps. In a storm, the shearwater is in its element. It rides the wind, banking from one wave to the next. It does not fight the weather. It uses it. Breeding takes place on remote islands. The burrow is dug into soft soil, sometimes under forest canopy. A single white egg is laid. Both parents share incubation duties. The chick grows slowly, fledging at about three months. Then it leaves. It spends years at sea before returning to breed. The Poor Knights Islands off Northland hold New Zealand's largest colony. Thousands of birds nest there. They return at night, calling from the burrows. The sound is a low, moaning chatter. It carries across the water. The flesh-footed shearwater is declining. Plastic ingestion is a major problem. The birds mistake floating plastic for food. They feed it to their chicks. The chicks starve with full stomachs. On Lord Howe Island, where the largest colony breeds, researchers have found plastic in almost every chick. The same problem exists on the Poor Knights. The birds are eating our garbage. Light pollution also disorients fledglings. Introduced predators on breeding islands add to the pressure. Climate change affects prey distribution. The name toanui means large petrel. It is shared with other shearwaters. Māori distinguished them by size and behaviour. This one is large. Dark. Unmistakable. The global population is estimated at 500,000 birds. Major colonies exist on Lord Howe Island and islands off Western Australia. New Zealand populations are found on the Poor Knights Islands and Three Kings Islands. The numbers are falling. The plastic remains. The birds continue to return. They carry on.