"Snow birds" by Rebekah White in the New Zealand Geographic is a good read.  Just click here.

Hutton's Shearwater

Read earlier postings to ACAP Latest News on New Zealand's endemic and globally Endangered Hutton's Shearwater Puffinus huttoni.  Click here for two ALN postings on the likely effects of the November 2016 earthquake on the bird's two mountain breeding sites.

John Cooper, ACAP Infomation Officer, 15 March 2017

David Hyrenbach (College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Hawai’i Pacific University) has published in 'Elepaio, the journal of the Hawai'i Audubon Society, on the monitoring of 226 active nests of the Wedge-tailed Shearwater Ardenna pacifica in 2016 and restoration efforts at the Freeman Seabird Preserve on the Hawaiian island of Oahu that have been conducted since 2009.

Monitoring

 “In summary, these results suggest that the average productivity documented in 2016 was caused by a combination of factors. The monitoring data suggest that 2016 was a year of high egg losses and low chick losses, with average phenology and chick provisioning, in the context of the available time series (2009 – 2016).  Despite the warm-water conditions observed during the summer, chick growth was not depressed in 2016.”

Restoration

“Habitat restoration efforts continued during 2016. From January through March, while the Wedge-tailed Shearwaters were at sea, Hawai'i Audubon Society members and other volunteers worked to remove alien plant species, to maintain natural nesting sites, and to create new artificial nesting sites. Additional restoration and management efforts in 2017 will continue monitoring the colony and enhancing the breeding habitat at the Freeman Seabird Preserve.”

Wedge-tailed Shearwater burrows in the Freeman Seabird Preserve , photograph by Davd Hyrenbach

Reference:

Hyrenbach, K.D. 2017.  A year of average productivity and provisioning at the Freeman Seabird Preserve 2016.  'Elepaio 77(2): 13-14.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 14 March 2017

André Raine (Kaua‘i Endangered Seabird Recovery Project, Hanapēpē, Kaua‘i, USA) and colleagues have published in the journal Pacific Science on the procellariiform seabirds occurring on a Hawaiian islet.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Moku‘ae‘ae Rock Islet is located off the north shore of Kaua‘i and is protected as a Hawai‘i State Seabird Sanctuary. In the late 1970s it was also the site of a cross-fostering project for the endangered Newell's Shearwater, Puffinus newelli. Few avifauna surveys have been undertaken on the islet, and none since 2007. In 2013 and 2015, we conducted burrow searches across the entire islet to obtain breeding population estimates for each species and to evaluate whether the Newell's Shearwater had become established as a breeding species after the cross-fostering project. Auditory surveys were also conducted for 2 hr after sunset and 1.5 hr before sunrise, which are the peak calling periods for the Newell's Shearwater on Kaua‘i. A total of seven seabird species was recorded on the islet, of which three, Bulwer’s Petrel, Bulweria bulwerii; Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Ardenna pacifica; and Red-tailed Tropicbird, Phaethon rubricauda, were confirmed breeding. This is the first time Bulwer's Petrel has been confirmed breeding on Moku‘ae‘ae. Searches for Newell's Shearwater did not produce evidence that this species breeds on the islet, suggesting that the cross-fostering project was not successful. Although the islet is small, it represents an important refuge for seabird species. However, high levels of depredation were recorded on Bulwer's Petrel; we conclude that these were all killed by the introduced Barn Owl, Tyto alba, based on disposition of the bodies and the injuries they had sustained. Management recommendations for the islet include creation of a management plan, annual breeding bird surveys, annual rat monitoring, and Barn Owl control.”

Wedge-tailed Shearwaters

Reference:

Raine, A,F., Boone, M. & Banfield, N. 2017.  An updated avifauna of Moku‘ae‘ae Rock Islet, Kaua‘i.  Pacific Science 71: 67-76.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 13 March 2017

The International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) has not often featured in ACAP Latest News - although the bilateral RFMO between Canada and the USA does manage a longline fishery that takes place in albatross-rich waters in the North Pacific.  It also conducts at-sea surveys of seabirds (as reported here by Tracee Geernaert of the IPHC in Chapter 3.7 of a 2016 report) as well as keeping records of avian bycatch by the fishery.

The chapter’s abstract follows:

“Counts of live seabirds, taken immediately following gear retrieval, have been conducted during International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) fishery-independent setline surveys since 2002. The Convention waters, extending from off Oregon northward to Alaska and the EEZ border with Russia, are surveyed annually between late May and early September. A total of 19,553 seabird counts have been conducted over the last 15 years, with 1,362 occurring in 2016. More than 859,000 observations of seabirds have been recorded since 2002. Northern fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis), glaucous-winged gulls (Larus glaucescens), blackfooted albatross (Phoebastria nigripes), and fork-tailed storm petrels (Oceanodroma furcata) represent the most commonly observed species. The observed number of unidentified gulls has decreased, inversely correlated with an increased number of observations of glaucous-winged gulls and herring gulls (L. argentatus). This shift was likely the result of increased emphasis on gull identification during annual IPHC field biologist training. A total of 334 endangered shorttailed albatross (P. albatrus) sightings have been recorded overall, with an average of 22 observed annually since 2002.”

Short-tailed Albatross at sea, photograph by Aleks Terauds

Reference:

Geernaert, T.O. 2016.  3.7 Trends in seabird counts from the IPHC fishery independent setline surveys (2002-2016).  In: IPHC Secretariat (Ed.).  IPHC Report of Assessment and Research Activities 2016 IPHC–2016– RARA–26–R.  Seattle: International Pacific Halibut Commission. pp. 267-276.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 10 March 2017