Barau’s Petrel spends most of its life at sea and breeds in the highlands of Réunion.
Its head is dark except for the forehead, lower cheeks and throat; its back is bluish gray, and a darker band forms an M-shaped mark across the wings.
In January 1995, 100 burrows measured in upland forest at about 2,400m on Grand Bénare, Réunion, averaged about 98cm long. They were dug into thick humus on the plateau and loose soil on ridges and passes. Tracking of 12 birds in 2008 and 11 in 2009 showed mean colony departure in late March, followed by eastward migration to the central and eastern tropical Indian Ocean. Birds stayed in their core wintering areas for about 127 days. Mean return dates were 15 September in 2008 and 4 September in 2009.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.