Seven Endangered Newell’s Shearwaters Puffinus newelli or ‘A‘o fledglings that had been rescued after being grounded by artificial lights were released by school children from two Hawaiian schools on the island of Kauai last week as part of the annual E Ho‘opomaika‘i ‘ia na Manu ‘A‘o (Cultural Release of the Native Newell’s Shearwater) event.

This is the eighth year the Kauai Endangered Seabird Recovery Project has teamed up with the Save Our Shearwaters (SOS) project of the Kauai Humane Society to give children the chance to be a part of the release of rehabilitated ‘A‘o fledglings.  Fourth-grade students from Wilcox Elementary School and Island School participated in the blessing and releases.

Newell's Shearwater, photograph by Eric Vanderwerf

A 2015 Newell's Shearwater fledgling gets released by school teacher Rhonda Cabello,  photograph by Constance Johnson

Sabra Kukua, a Hawaiian Studies teacher facilitated the ceremony: “It’s not just our island, as human beings, but it’s for the birds and the fish and the plants, too.”  “It’s extremely important to expose the kids to these birds that they probably won’t otherwise see because they’re nocturnal and they live out in the mountains, this is a really good opportunity to see an endangered bird up close.”  A chant, used every year at the event, speaks about the beauty of Kauai and the Eastern coast that asks for protection for the birds so that they can live long, happy lives.

 “There’s no better way to get kids to care, than by exposing them to the birds,” said Constance Johnson, a staff member with Kauai Endangered Seabird Recovery Project. “It’s about letting people know that their actions make a difference.”

Read more on the release here.

View a video on what to do with downed birds and read more on how light pollution affects Newell’s Shearwaters here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 19 October 2015

Tatsuya Shiozaki (Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Japan) and colleagues have published in Japanese in the Japanese Journal of Ornithology on a feral cat Felis catus entering the metre-long burrow of a Streaked Shearwater Calonectris leucomelas and removing the chick.  The article also describes egg predation by a Large-billed Crow Corvus macrorhynchos and chick predation by a Japanese Rat Snake Elaphe climacophora.

Feral cats prey upon shearwater chicks, photograph by Jerome Legrand

Click here to view the Infrared video camera film from August 2012 of the predation event. 

Reference:

Shiozaki, T., Shirai, M., Osugi, M., Yamamoto, M. & Yoda, M.. 2014.  Predation by feral cat on Streaked Shearwater chicks on Awashima.  Japanese Journal of Ornithology 63: 75-78 [in Japanese].

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 18 October 2015

William Walker (National Marine Mammal Laboratory, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, Seattle, Washington, USA) and colleagues have published on-line and open-access in the journal Marine Ornithology on the stomach contents of by-caught Short-Tailed Albatrosses Phoebastria albatrus.

Prey identified included squid and fish.  The paper concludes: “The results of our Short-tailed Albatross study … leads us to conclude that the Short-tailed Albatross probably … employs surface scavenging as a primary foraging strategy in the eastern Bering Sea and California Current System.”

Short-tailed Albatrosses at sea, photograph by Rob Suryan

Reference:

Walker, W.A., Fitzgerald, S.M. & Collins, P.W. 2015.  Stomach contents of seven Short-Tailed Albatross Phoebastria albatrus in the eastern North Pacific and Bering Sea.  Marine Ornithology 43: 169-172.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 17 October 2015

Susan Waugh (Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand) and colleagues have published in the New Zealand journal Notornis on cyclonic storm damage to colonies of ACAP-listed and Vulnerable Westland Petrel Procellaria westlandica.

The publication concludes;

“Ex-tropical cyclone Ita impacted many Westland petrel colonies in April 2014.  Our preliminary survey assessed damage at colonies containing over 75% of the estimated breeding population of Westland petrels, and high levels of damage were noted at 4 of the 6 colonies assessed.  In some of these areas, a major part (over 50%) of the breeding habitat has been destroyed by landslips.  Further detailed surveys are required to quantitatively assess the impacts on the breeding population and nesting habitat.  Given the threatened status of this species, and its restricted distribution, this work is high priority.  The programme of demographic research on the Westland petrels at Rowe and Study colony continues, and assessment of the impacts of the storm on survival, breeding frequency and breeding output of individuals may be possible over coming years.”

Westland Petrel, photograph by Susan Waugh

Reference:

Waugh, S.M., Poupart, T. & Wilson, K.-J. 2015.  Storm damage to Westland petrel colonies in 2014 from cyclone Ita.  Notornis 62: 165-168.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 16 October 2015