A Streaked Shearwater at its breeding site

Sarara Azumi (Graduate School of Fisheries Science, Hokkaido University, Japan) and colleagues have published open access in the journal Mammal Research on feral cat predation of Near Threatened Streaked Shearwaters or Oomizunagidori Calonectris leucomelas on Japan’s Mikura Island.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Understanding how invasive predators impact native species is essential for the development of effective control strategies, especially in insular environments where alternative non-native prey species exist. We examined seasonal and spatial shifts in diet of feral cat Felis silvestris catus focusing on the predation on native streaked shearwaters, Calonectris leucomelas, and introduced rats, Rattus rattus and R. norvegicus, which are alternative prey to shearwaters, on Mikura Island, Japan. Streaked shearwaters breed at low elevations on the island from spring to autumn, whereas rats inhabit the island throughout the year, which makes them an alternative prey when native shearwaters are absent. Fecal analysis revealed that feral cats dramatically shifted their diets from introduced rats in winter to streaked shearwaters in seabird-season in low elevation areas of the island, while cats preyed on rats throughout the year at high altitudes on the island. This finding suggests that feral cats selectively prey on shearwaters. This is probably because of their large body size and less cautious behavior, and because introduced rats sustain the cat population when shearwaters are absent. The number of streaked shearwaters killed was estimated to be 313 individuals per cat per year, which represents an indication of top-down effects of feral cats on streaked shearwaters. Further studies on the demographic parameters and interspecific interactions of the three species are required to enable effective cat management for the conservation of streaked shearwaters on this island.”

Reference:

Azumi, S., Watari, Y., Oka, N. & Miyashita, T. 2020.  Seasonal and spatial shifts in feral cat predation on native seabirds vs. non-native rats on Mikura Island, Japan.  Mammal Research   doi.org/10.1007/s13364-020-00544-5.

John Cooper, ACAP Introduction Officer, 15 December 2020

“Lono-makua (Father Lono) is constructed of a tall post with a kiʻi (image) of Lono, pala lei, Ka’upu, and white kapa attached at the cross piece”, image from Lindsay Young

In the main albatrosses breed on out-of-the-way islands, some distance from human habitations.  With some significant exceptions, notably by in the North Pacific where they and their eggs were once heavily exploited for food or feathers and their guano collected, albatross colonies have tended to be left alone from direct persecution. Other past exploitive practices are briefly summarized with selected references listed below.

Sailing ships traversing the Southern Ocean in times past would use a trailing line with a baited hook to catch albatrosses to eat (including any eggs found within them) or just for sport.  Birds were shot at by passengers with no or little chance of their recovery.  Birds brought aboard were used by sailors to make tobacco pouches by skinning their webbed feet, using wing bones for pipe stems, and plucking their feathers for muffs and boas.  On land, albatross chicks and eggs were regularly collected on their sub-Antarctic breeding islands and eaten by sealers and shipwrecked mariners in the 19th century – and their feathers were plucked to make rough bedding to use ashore.  The inhabitants of the Tristan da Cunha islands collected albatrosses and eggs (mainly Atlantic Yellow-nosed Thalassarche chlororhynchos) to eat well into the first half of the 20th Century; they are now fully protected.  Māori and Moriori people visited New Zealand albatross islands for exploitive purposes in the past with requests for takes extending into the second half of the 20th century.  It seems albatrosses (and petrels) that are accidentally or intentionally caught by fishers in Namibian and Peruvian waters may still be cooked and eaten; but the activity was last recorded with any certainty in South African waters in the 1970s.  Old recipes on how to cook albatrosses may be found in the occasional cookbook.  Read more on exploitive use here.

Not many of these past exploitive uses can easily be described as ‘cultural’ but in the Hawaiian islands there is a long history extending to the current day of including albatross parts such as their feathers in cultural practices as informed by ACAP Latest News correspondents.

Beth Flint, US Fish & Wildlife Service writes: “the feathers (actually the whole pelt) of Black-footed Albatrosses or Ka’upu [Phoebastria nigripes] are used to make a standard or staff depicting Lono [Hawaiian god of farming and fertility] that is carried in a procession during the Makahiki season [ancient Hawaiian New Year festival] around the island.  There are cultural practitioners with Federal migratory bird permits that use birds (typically those killed as bycatch in the fisheries) to make the staff with among other things a Ka’upu.”

Lono-makua, image from Beth Flint

"Boxing match before Capt. Cook at Ouhyhee (Hawaii) Sandwich Islands, Thursday, Jan. 28th, 1770 from an unpublished drawing by James Webber, draughtsman to the expedition"

A Lono-makua is visible on the left with suspended albatross skins

Kahili standards either  side of the Iolani Palace thrones, photographs from Hob Osterlund

Hob Osterlund, Kaua’i Albatross Network, has also written from Hawaii: “In terms of Hawaiian culture, I am … aware of the use of Laysan Albatross [P. immutabilis] bones for tattoo needles.  They too are called Mōlī”.  Also of note are the kahili (royal standards) created from Kaʻupu and Mōlī feathers.  These kahili stand on either side of the thrones at Iolani Palace in Honolulu.  The feathers were collected [under Migratory Bird Treaty Act permit] from the bodies of dead albatross chicks on Midway Atoll.  Kahili can also be found in Honolulu’s Queen Emma Summer Palace.  The master feather worker in Hawaiian culture is called a “kiamanu”.  Such a person knows the craft of feather work but also knows the birds in a deeper sense.”

Making a feather lei by members of the Kiamanu Project

Feathers collected under permit from Kure Atoll have been used in workshops by the Kiamanu Project to create lei, mōlī and kahili as part of ensuring such cultural activities are not lost.  The project aims to support the perpetuation of traditional practices and ceremonies that promote responsible environmental kinship and whose tools and feather products were traditionally made from seabirds.

For an unusual ‘cultural’ use of a pair of albatross wings click here.

 References:

Avery, G. 1979.  Results of beach patrols conducted in 1978.  Cormorant 6: 4-12.

Barwell, G. 2014.  Albatross. London: Reaktion Books.  208 pp. [REVIEW]

Cooper, J. 1977.  Editorial.  Cormorant 3: 3.

Crawford, A.B. 1941.  I Went to Tristan.  London: Hodder & Stoughton.  268 pp.

Gerber, H. 1957.  Traditional Cookery of the Cape Malays.  Food Customs and 200 Old Cape Recipes.  Cape Town: A.A. Balkema.  127 pp.

Medway, D G. 1998.  Human-induced mortality of Southern Ocean albatrosses at sea in the 19th century: a brief historical review.  In: Robertson, G. & Gales, R. (Eds).  Albatross Biology and Conservation.  Chipping Norton: Surrey Beatty & Sons.  pp. 189-198.

Murphy, Robert Cushman 1948.  Logbook for Grace.  Whaling Brig Daisy, 1912-1913. London: Robert Hale.  290 pp.

Rauzon, M.J. 2001. Isles of Refuge: Wildlife and History of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.  Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.  206 pp.

Robertson, C.J.R. 1991.  Questions on the harvesting of Toroa in the Chatham Islands.  Science and Research Series 35: 1-105.  Wellington: Department of Conservation.

Tickell, W.L.N. 2000.  Albatrosses.  Mountfield: Pica Press.  448 pp.

[Tourist Office] undated.  Recipes from Tristan da Cunha.  Tristan da Cunha: Tourist Office.  29 pp.

With thanks to Beth Flint, Hob Osterlund, Christopher Robertson and Lindsay Young.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 13 December 2020, uodated 26 December 2020

Northern or Arctic Fulmar

Jessie Beck (Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge, Santa Cruz, California, USA) and colleagues write in the journal Fisheries Oceanography on the bycatch of Northern or Arctic Fulmars Fulmarus glacialis by demersal fisheries in the northern Pacific.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Characterizing demography of fisheries bycatch is essential to understanding impacts on populations of long‐lived, low‐fecundity species. Northern Fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis rogersii) represent >50% of seabird bycatch in U.S. groundfish and halibut fisheries in the North Pacific. Using specimens collected by federal observer programs, we assessed the sex, age class, and body condition of 1089 fulmars collected between 2004 and 2014. Using regional fulmar breeding phenology, we assess seasonal variation in the relative composition of a given sex or age class. Strong biases in bycatch towards adults and males were documented, with a slight increase in the proportion of males to females during the non‐breeding period. High proportions of adults were observed year‐round. Sex and age biases could be related to behavioral differences, including potential segregation at sea, and reflect similar biases seen in seabird bycatch in other subpolar fisheries. Overall body condition increased as the year progressed from breeding to non‐breeding seasons, possibly revealing the costs of reproduction on adults and recovery through the availability of fisheries offal and bait. Year‐round, only 3% of examined fulmars were emaciated. Together, these results indicate a persistent removal of adult male fulmars in good body condition across a decade, and highlight the contrast of fisheries‐caused mortality and potential assistance of fishery discards to post‐breeding recovery.”

Reference:

Beck, J. Michael, P.E., Hester, M., Nevins, H.M., Donnelly‐Greenan, E. Gibble, C., Phillips, E.M., Young, C. & Fitzgerald, S.  2020.  Seasonal variation of Pacific Northern Fulmar bycatch: implications for age and sex‐specific mortality.  Fisheries Oceanography doi.org/10.1111/fog.12518 doi.org/10.1111/fog.12518.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 11 December 2020

Scopoli's Shearwater at sea, photograph by John Borg

Laura Zango (Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain) and colleagues have published in the journal Animal Behaviour on niche partitioning in Scopoli's Shearwaters Calonectris diomedea.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Niche partitioning among different age, breeding status or sex classes allows resource use to be maximized while reducing intraspecific competition. Individual specialization marks the finest scale of niche partitioning where, within a species, individuals differ in their realized niches. Despite having important implications in ecology, evolution and conservation, studies simultaneously addressing the occurrence of both phenomena are scarce. We studied niche partitioning and individual specialization in foraging behaviour in relation to age, breeding status and sex using breeding, nonbreeding adult and immature Scopoli's shearwaters, Calonectris diomedea, in Minorca (Balearic Is.) during chick rearing in 2017 with GPS loggers and stable isotopes. Compared to adults, immature birds seemed to exploit a larger area at the population level, possibly to avoid competition. We found similar levels of individual specialization in immature and adult birds, which suggests the former have well-defined foraging strategies prior to prospecting the colony. For breeding status, we did not find niche partitioning or differences in individual specialization, suggesting nest attachment and pair bonds also lead to central-place foraging in nonbreeding adults. Male breeders showed greater individual specialization than female breeders in trip characteristics. At the same time, individual specialization in isotopic diet was higher in females than in males. These opposite patterns are possibly driven by a greater use of fishery discards by males, which would underlie their individual strategies of following vessels, resulting in a highly variable diet, since discarded prey types vary more than naturally accessible prey. Our results suggest that seabirds acquire individual strategies early in life and, once they are sexually mature, breeding constraints do not result in differences in feeding behaviour between breeders and nonbreeders. Finally, we showed that sexual differences in individual specialization can apparently emerge even in slightly dimorphic species sharing breeding duties.”

Reference:

Zango, L., Navarro-Herrero, L., García-Vendrell, M., Safi, K. & González-Solís, J. 2020.  Niche partitioning and individual specialization among age, breeding status and sex classes in a long-lived seabird.  Animal Behavour doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2020.10.001.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 10 December 2020