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title: "Translocating Fluttering Shearwaters on two New Zealand islands"
---

# Translocating Fluttering Shearwaters on two New Zealand islands

*![Fluttering Shearwater chick inside artifical burrow s](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Shearwaters/Shearwaters/Fluttering_Shearwater_chick_inside_artifical_burrow_s.jpg)  
A Fluttering Shearwater chick inside an artificial burrow*

 Shane Cotter (c/o [Matiu Somes Island Charitable Trust](https://matiusomesisland.nz/), Lower Hutt, New Zealand) and Helen Gummer have published open access  in the ornithological journal *[Notornis](https://www.birdsnz.org.nz/society-publications/notornis/)* on translocation efforts made with [Fluttering Shearwaters](https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/fluttering-shearwater-puffinus-gavia) *Puffinus gavia.*

 The paper’s abstract follows:

 “Seabird restoration projects are increasingly being used to re-establish populations of seabirds that have disappeared from their former breeding locations.  Here we describe the outcomes of two such restoration projects involving pakahā/fluttering shearwater (*Puffinus gavia*) at Mana Island/Te Mana o Kupe ki Aotearoa (Mana) and Matiu/Somes Island (Matiu), within central Aotearoa New Zealand.  Monitoring regimes for each island were influenced by differing project philosophy and island accessibility; however, comprehensive studies were possible at both sites because pakahā showed a strong preference for artificial burrows and a tolerance to handling.  Acoustic attraction alone did not lead to colony re-establishment at either location; however, the translocation of chicks combined with acoustic attraction resulted in growing populations at both sites.  By March 2025, 152 of 442 (34%) translocated chicks returned as adults to the Wellington region.  Their fledging and return rates were similar at both locations; however, only Matiu fledglings were found grounded on the mainland, likely due to light pollution around Wellington Harbour.  Matiu attracted more immigrants than Mana (30 compared to 21), with many already banded, showing a predominantly one-way dispersal from Mana to Matiu. With Matiu pakahā monitored almost monthly and over 98% of adults sexed using DNA, it was established that more male returned translocated chicks were first captured in Years 3 and 4 and first bred in Years 5 and 6, while most females returned later, in Years 5 and 6, and commenced breeding in Years 6 and 7. Four of 93 locally-bred birds captured as adults in this study returned in Year 2. At least 27 of 30 immigrants on Matiu were female, indicating strong female-biased dispersal in this species. Since the study period ended, two additional first-time adult captures of translocated chicks, one at each study site, have increased the return rate to the Wellington region to 35%.”

 **Reference:**

 Cotter, S.D. & Gummer, H. 2026.  Comparing the outcomes from two translocations of pakahā/fluttering shearwater (*Puffinus gavia*) chicks within the Wellington region.  *[Notornis 73: 243-254](https://doi.org/10.63172/079246rdrptf)*.