---
title: "In need of a new fence: Kīlauea Point’s Laysan Albatrosses have a 38% breeding success in 2019/20"
---

# In need of a new fence: Kīlauea Point’s Laysan Albatrosses have a 38% breeding success in 2019/20

![Kilauea Point Laysan lighthouse Jacqueline Olivera](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Albatrosses/L/Laysan/Kilauea_Point_Laysan_lighthouse_Jacqueline_Olivera.jpg) 

 *A Kilauea Point Laysan Albatross, lighthouse in the background, *p*hotograph by Jacqueline Olivera***

 The [Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge](https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Kilauea_Point/) on the Hawaiian island of Kauai was established to preserve and enhance seabird breeding colonies, including the Laysan Albatross or Mōlī *Phoebastria immutabilis*[(click here)](https://www.acap.aq/news/latest-news/1654-acap-breeding-site-no-63-kilauea-point-national-wildlife-refuge-home-of-a-laysan-albatross-population?highlight=WyJraWxhdWVhIiwicG9pbnQiLCJwb2ludCdzIiwicG9pbnQnLCIsImtpbGF1ZWEgcG9pbnQiXQ==).  The Kīlauea Point NWR supported a total of 116 pairs of Laysan Albatrosses in the 2019/20 breeding season according to a [Facebook post](https://www.facebook.com/KilaueaPointNWR)dated 17 April.  “Of those, 31 nests failed to hatch (broken, missing, etc.), 14 failed to hatch (but were incubated to full term), and 71 successfully hatched” (giving a hatching success of 61.2%).  “Of these 71, 19 chicks are missing or depredated (suspect feral cat [[click here](https://www.acap.aq/news/latest-news/2043-feral-cats-are-suspected-of-killing-22-laysan-albatross-chicks-on-hawaii-s-kauai-island?highlight=WyJraWxhdWVhIiwicG9pbnQiLCJwb2ludCdzIiwicG9pbnQnLCIsImtpbGF1ZWEgcG9pbnQiXQ==)], feral pig, or owl) and 52 were alive and being fed by parents, although some chicks seemed very small and thin for their age”.

 ![Kilauea Point Laysan downy chick Jacqueline Olivera](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Albatrosses/L/Laysan/Kilauea_Point_Laysan_downy_chick_Jacqueline_Olivera.jpg)

 *A downy Kilauea Point Laysan Albatross chick, p*hotograph by Jacqueline Olivera**

 Following an enquiry at the time, the KNWR replied “the birds are protected by a fence that keeps out dogs and pigs.  Though, as you know, pigs are a persistent beast all their own and are still a concern which is why we actively conduct predator control for them if they breach our fence lines”.  A [later report](https://us20.campaign-archive.com/?u=de6a7469cf539fdbb8f9aeb26&id=4d5800f023) by [USFWS](https://fws.gov/) Biologist Kim Uyehara, states “We … have an old fence, which feral pigs regularly breach and feral cats easily climb over.  We look forward to a new mammal-proof fence within the next few years”.  It is further reported that ground wortk fior the new fence will commence next year.

 ![Kilauea Laysan fence Louise Barnfield](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Albatrosses/L/Laysan/Kilauea_Laysan_fence_Louise_Barnfield.jpg)

 *A Kilauea Point Laysan Albatross chick approaching fledging against the current pig-proof fence - that will not keep out feral cats, photograph by Louise Barnfield*

 The [August 2020 edition](https://us20.campaign-archive.com/?u=de6a7469cf539fdbb8f9aeb26&id=819cfa8801) of *Wild Times*, the newsletter of [Friends of Kauaʻi Wildlife Refuges](http://www.kilaueapoint.org/), reports “Laysan albatross (mōlī) fledging success rates at Kīlauea Point NWR this year are much lower than usual with only 36 chicks fledging out of 115 nests [within the fence*].  Low fledging success may be linked to decreased invasive species management capability as a result of staff shortages, reduced capabilities during the COVID-19 closure and challenges with extensive staff time needing to be devoted to avian botulism outbreaks at [Hanalei NWR](https://www.fws.gov/refuge/hanalei/).”

 However, an update received from Louise Barnfield, KPNWR volunteer who surveys the albatross colony, includes late fledging chicks to give a total of 44.  Overall breeding success for the 2019/20 season was thus 37.9% (with a fledging success of 44/71 or 62.0%). The chicks were not banded prior to fledging.  In the previous season (2018/19) 121 active nests were counted in December 2018.

 *Note that one of the 116 nests in 2019/20 was just outside the existing fence.

 With thanks to Louise Barnfield, KPNWR volunteer.

 *John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 21 August 2020, updated 02 September 2020*