David B. Wingate devoted his life after that to saving the bird. After university studies and other work, in 1966 Wingate became Bermuda's first conservation officer. He undertook work to address various threats to the Bermuda petrel, including the eradication of introduced rats on the nesting islands and nearby islands, and addressed nest-site competition with the more aggressive, native white-tailed tropicbird "Phaethon lepturus catsbyii", which invaded petrel nest burrows and killed up to 75% of all chicks. Following the design and installation of specially sized wooden "baffler" burrow entrance covers, which allowed the petrels to enter but excluded the larger tropicbirds, there has been essentially no further chick loss from this cause.