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title: "Newell’s Shearwaters breeding on Kaua’i feed squid and flying fish to their young"
---

# Newell’s Shearwaters breeding on Kaua’i feed squid and flying fish to their young

David Ainley ([H.T. Harvey & Associates Ecological Consultants](http://www.harveyecology.com/), Los Gatos, California, USA) and colleagues have published in the open-access journal [*Marine Ornithology*](http://www.marineornithology.org/) on stomach analyses of fledgling Newell’s Shearwaters *Puffinus newelli*found beneath power lines on the Hawaiian island of Kaua’i.

 ![](https://acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Shearwaters/Shearwaters/newells_shearwater_sep_2011_eric_vanderwerf.jpg)

  

 Newell's Shearwater, photograph by Eric Vanderwwerf

 The [Endangered](http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3939) shearwater’s diet was dominated by ommastrephid squid, although it appears digestion had reduced the role of some other prey species, notably flying fish *Exocoetus* spp.. The paper concludes:  “Much remains to be learned about the at-sea ecology of the Newell’s Shearwater and how it is affected by fishing, a task made increasingly difficult owing to the continued steep decline in this species’ population on Kaua’i and elsewhere in Hawai’i.”

 **Reference:**

 Ainley, D.G., Walker, W.A., Gregory C. Spencer, G.C. & Holmes, N.D. 2014.  The prey of Newell’s Shearwater *Puffinus newelli* in Hawaiian waters.  [*Marine Ornithology* 44: 69-72](http://www.marineornithology.org/PDF/42_1/42_1_69-72.pdf).

 *John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 12 June 2014*