Newell’s Shearwaters Puffinus newelli are endemic to just a few Hawaiian islands and are considered globally Endangered.  Predation by feral cats Felis catus on the island of Kauai is a serious concern that the Kaua'i Endangered Seabird Recovery Project is working to address in the birds’ mountain breeding sites as recent postings to its Facebook page show.

“Yet another endangered Newell's Shearwater killed by a feral cat while sitting in its burrow - this one in Upper Manoa valley. While the site is actively managed for introduced predators, cats are so widespread on the island that they continue to appear in these areas with devastating effect. This is why predator proof fences are one option we are actively pursuing in some of these sites."

“A full video of the recent cat kill of a nesting endangered Newell's Shearwater here on Kauai. Unfortunately this cat predated nesting birds from two burrows that we know of in this area. This, once again, demonstrates the need for the intensive management of introduced predators on Kaua'i and the need for refugia free of introduced predators to protect all of our rare native bird species.”

Read more ACAP Latest News postings on the conservation efforts directed at Newell’s Shearwaters.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 14 August 2018

ACAP Latest News reports on a PhD opportunity with Cory's Shearwaters Calonectris borealis (Least Concern), working at the Unversity of Barcelona in Spain.

Cory's Shearwater at sea, photograph by John Graham

“We are seeking for a dedicated, highly-motivated and enthusiastic predoctoral fellow to develop her/his doctoral thesis at Marta Riutort’s Lab (@RiutortLab) in the Universitat de Barcelona in collaboration with Jacob González-Solís' lab in a project entitled The Genetic Basis of Seabird Movement.

What is our project?

Shearwaters are a uniquely pelagic group of seabird species that have adapted over the past ~15 million years to the relatively uniform ocean environment in a diversity of ways. They are ocean wanderers that exhibit strikingly different scales and patterns of migratory and foraging movements. A significant proportion of the phenotypic variance in migratory traits is genetic and has high heritabilities, but the genes involved in shaping these phenotypes are still largely unknown and we know even less about the genetic basis of foraging strategies. Over the last 15 years, we have gathered a database of hundreds of tracks deploying geolocation-based and GPS loggers on Cory’s shearwaters at several breeding colonies. Several characteristics of the tracks show remarkable repeatabilities suggesting a genetic control of some aspects of the migratory and foraging behaviour. Using NGS methodologies and our knowledge on the phenology of these movement s we expect to be able to characterize their genetic bases.

To do what?

The successful candidate will carry out fieldwork at a Cory’s shearwater colony in the Canary Islands to increase the tracking database on related individuals and will also work in the wet lab preparing DNA extractions for Next-generation sequencing (NGS). Last, but not least, she/he will perform quantitative genetics analyses and will map migratory and/or foraging phenotypes to the genotypes. The candidate will have the opportunity to collaborate with researchers within and outside our research group.

Who?

The prospective candidates must hold a Master degree in Biology or similar scientific area and must have a Bachelor’s (Grado) grade higher than 8/10 (Spanish system) in order to compete for a PhD fellowship (FI from Generalitat de Catalunya, FPU from Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional or APIF from Universitat de Barcelona).

Preference will be given to candidates with:

Previous experience in DNA extraction

Knowledge of Linux computer systems

Basic knowledge of the R and/or Python environments

Basic knowledge of NGS sequencing and bioinformatics

For further information and expressions of interest, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (Universitat de Barcelona). The deadline for applications is the 10th September and the PhD will start in January 2019.”

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 13 August 2018

A Global Audit of Biodiversity Monitoring has been proposed by BirdLife International with funding from the Cambridge Conservation Initiative (CCI) Collaborative Fund.

“A number of initiatives and international conventions seek to address the issue of the declining state of the world's biodiversity, notably by implementing conservation actions and promoting sustainable development. Effective action requires to be evidence based to set clear targets and priorities, measure progress and appropriately report on impacts to the key stakeholders and actors to inspire further involvement. In this context, the production and dissemination of biodiversity information, such as biodiversity monitoring data, is primordial.

Monitoring biodiversity includes tracking changes in species' abundance and occurrence. It is particularly important to help assess the changing conservation status of species, measure and report on the impact of conservation plans or of threats on species, manage natural resources, monitor sustainability or environmental impact of businesses and help raise awareness of conservation issues.

While a considerable amount of data on species monitoring is already available, some gaps have already been identified and need further investigation. Furthermore, locating the sources, databases and methodologies is difficult and time-consuming, reducing access to relevant information for end-users, decision- and policy- makers.

Supported by extensive and global network of partners and collaborators, this project aims to take stock of the distribution and coverage of species monitoring by undertaking a global audit of species monitoring schemes.”

A Campbell Albatross preens its chick, photograph by David Evans

Contributions by researchers working withACAP-listed albatrosses and petrels can be made by way of an online survey.

Read more here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 09 August 2018

This year is proving to be a record year for stranded globally Vulnerable Yelkouan Shearwater Puffinus yelkouan in Malta with nine fledglings recovered by members of the public during June and July following an appeal.    The birds had become disorientated due to light pollution; after capture they were released by BirdLife Malta's LIFE Arċipelagu Garnija project team.  “During this period, the young seabirds fledge from their nests in the cliffs at night for the first time.  However, bright coastal lights leave them disorientated and some of them become stranded inland in urban areas, unable to fly back out to sea”.

Yelkouan Shearwater, photograph by Matthew Borg Cardona

Click on the video to watch some of the releases.

“The Maltese Islands are home to approximately 10% of the global population of this seabird species, therefore their protection is important on the global scale, especially with the drastic declines Yelkouan Shearwaters have been facing over the last decades.”

Read more here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 08 August 2018