kinds of petrel before the introduction of exotic predators and herbivores, including black rats, house mice, European rabbits, pigs and goats during the 19th century or earlier. The pigs and goats have since disappeared or been eradicated. Black rats were eradicated in January 1997 following an aerial drop of 13.5 tonnes of brodifacoum anticoagulant poison baits over the island. Important Bird Area The island, with the adjacent islet of Quille Rock, has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports several breeding seabirds. The island's subtropical location gives it an avifauna distinct from that of subantarctic islands and contains several breeding species which are rare in the region. Saint Paul's seabirds nested mainly on Quille Rock until rat eradication allowed some species, notably Macgillivray's prions (a subspecies of Salvin's prion) and great-winged petrels, to recolonise the main island. Other species include a colony of some 9000 pairs of northern rockhopper penguins, about 20 pairs of sooty albatrosses, a few pairs of Indian yellow-nosed albatrosses, and small numbers of Australasian gannets, fairy prions, little and flesh-footed shearwaters, Wilson's storm petrels and sooty terns. The island might once have had a species of duck as a painting from 1793 shows one. However, it is not clear if this is conspecific with the Amsterdam duck (Anas marecula) or a separate taxon. No specimens have been found though, so the existence of this cannot be proven. See also List of volcanoes in French Southern and Antarctic Lands Administrative divisions of France French overseas departments and territories Islands controlled by France in the Indian and Pacific oceans List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands References Notes Sources External links Pictures of Île Saint-Paul Antipodes of the USA Isla de Saint Paul (Spanish) Saint Paul Uninhabited islands of France Former populated places in the Indian Ocean Île Amsterdam Island restoration Stratovolcanoes of France Important Bird Areas of Île Amsterdam Islands of the Indian Ocean Volcanoes of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands Seal hunting Submarine calderas Île Saint-Paul