Stefan Schoombie and colleagues (FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town, South Africa) have published in the journal Polar Biology on at-sea travels of Great Shearwaters Ardenna gravis (Least Concern) breeding on Gough Island in the South Atlantic.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Ardenna shearwaters have among the most extreme foraging trips of any central place forager, yet little is known about the foraging range of the largest member of the genus, the Great Shearwater (Ardenna gravis). GPS loggers were deployed on 20 Great Shearwaters (10 males and 10 females) nesting on Gough Island in the South Atlantic Ocean during the incubation and chick-rearing periods, recording a total of 25 foraging trips. Foraging trip characteristics were similar between sexes during incubation, but males tended to forage farther west than females. During chick-rearing, all tracked birds alternated long and short foraging trips. Long trips (20.2 ± 2.3 days) were similar in duration to incubation trips (22.2 ± 5.3 days), but the birds travelled greater distances during chick-rearing (9257 ± 3249 km) than during incubation (6863 ± 2521 km). Some commuting birds sustained speeds > 100 km/h, with one bird covering almost 1000 km in 10 h. During incubation, birds mainly travelled southeast towards the Antarctic Polar Front, whereas chick-rearing birds travelled more widely. Our study provides new information on the distribution of Great Shearwaters while breeding.”

Great Shearwater in flight

Reference:

Schoombie.S., Dilley, B.J., Davies, D. & Ryan, P.G. 2018.  The foraging range of Great Shearwaters (Ardenna gravis) breeding on Gough Island.  Polar Biology  41: 2451-2458.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 28 November 2018

Lindsay Young (Pacific Rim Conservation, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii, USA) and colleagues have published a technical report that describes the details of a project that has been translocating globally threatened Newell’s Shearwater Puffinus newelli and Hawaiian Petrel Pterodroma sandwichensis chicks on the Hawaiian island of Kauai to within a predator-proof fenced site.

The report’s Executive Summary follows:

Newell’s Shearwater (Puffinus auricularis newelli; NESH) and Hawaiian Petrel (Pterodroma sandwichensis; HAPE) are both listed under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and are declining due to collisions with power lines and structures, light attraction, predation by feral cats, pigs, rats, and introduced Barn Owls, habitat degradation by feral ungulates (pigs, goats) and invasive exotic plants. Protection of NESH and HAPE on their nesting grounds and reduction of collision and lighting hazards are high priority recovery actions for these species. Given the challenges in protecting nesting birds in their rugged montane habitats, it has long been desirable to also create breeding colonies of both species in more accessible locations that offer a higher level of protection. Translocation of birds to breeding sites within predator exclusion fences was ranked as priority 1 in the interagency 5‐year Action Plan for Newell’s Shearwater and Hawaiian Petrel. In 2012, funding became available through several programs to undertake this action at Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge (KPNWR), which is home to one of the largest seabird colonies in the main Hawaiian Islands. The project was named the “Nihoku Ecosystem Restoration Project” after the area on the Refuge where the placement of the future colony was planned. The Nihoku Ecosystem Restoration Project is a result of a large partnership between multiple government agencies and non‐profit groups who have come together to help preserve the native species of Hawaiʻi. There were four stages to this multi‐faceted project: permitting and biological monitoring, fence construction, restoration and predator eradication, followed by translocation of the birds to the newly secured habitat. The translocation component is expected to last five years and involve up to 90 individuals each of NESH and HAPE. Prior to fence construction, baseline monitoring data were collected in order to provide a record of initial site conditions and species diversity. Surveys were conducted quarterly from 2012‐2014, investigating diversity and richness of plant, invertebrate, mammalian, and avian species. A 650 m (2130 ft) long predator proof fence was completed at Nihoku in September 2014, enclosing 2.5 ha (6.2 ac), and all mammalian predators were eradicated by March 2015. From 2015‐2017, approximately 40% of the fenced area (~1 ha) was cleared of non‐native vegetation using heavy machinery and herbicide application. A water catchment and irrigation system was installed, and over 18,000 native plants representing 37 native species were out‐planted in the restoration area. The plant species selected are low‐in‐stature, making burrow excavation easier for seabirds while simultaneously providing forage for Nēnē (Branta sandvicensis). Habitat restoration was done in phases (10‐15% of the project per year) and will be continued until the majority of the area has been restored. In addition to habitat restoration, 50 artificial burrows were installed in the restoration to facilitate translocation activities. From 2012‐2017 potential source colonies of NESH and HAPE were located by the Kauaʻi Endangered Seabird Recovery Project (KESRP) with visual, auditory, and ground searching methods at locations around Kauaʻi. The sites that were selected as source colonies for both species were Upper Limahuli Preserve (owned by the National Tropical Botanical Garden; NTBG) and several sites within the Hono o Nā Pali Natural Area Reserve system. These sites had high call rates, high burrow densities to provide an adequate source of chicks for the translocation, and had active predator control operations in place to offset any potential impacts of the monitoring. Translocation protocols were developed based on previous methods developed in New Zealand; on the ground training was done by the translocation team by visiting active projects in New Zealand. In year one, 10 HAPE and eight NESH were translocated, and the goal is to translocate up to 20 in subsequent years for a cohort size of 90 birds of each species over a five year period. Post‐translocation monitoring has been initiated to gauge the level of success, and social attraction has been implemented in an attempt to attract adults to the area. It is anticipated that the chicks raised during this project will return to breed at Nihoku when they are 65‐6 [sic] years old; for the first cohort released in 2015 this would be starting in 2020. Once this occurs, Nihoku will be the first predator‐free breeding area of both species in Hawaiʻi.”

Hawaiian Petrel in its burrow, photograph by André Raine

Reference:

Young, L.C., Behnke, J.H., Vanderwerf, E.A., Raine, A.F., Mitchell, C., Kohley, C.R., Dalton, M., Mitchell, M., Tonneson, H., DeMotta, M., Wallace, G., Nevins, H., Hall, C.S. & Uyehara, K. 2018.  The Nihoku Ecosystem Restoration Project: a Case Study in Predator Exclusion Fencing, Ecosystem Restoration, and Seabird Translocation.  Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit Technical Report No. 198.  Honolulu: Department of Botany, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.  83 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 27 November 2018

Two well-known marine ornithologists from Japan have summarised aspects of recent research conducted on the three North Pacific albatrosses (globally Near threatened Black-footed Phoebastria nigripes, Near Threatened Laysan P. immutabilis and Vulnerable Short-tailed P. albatrus).  Originally published in Japanese the two articles by Tomohiro Deguchi (Division of Avian Conservation, Yamashina Institute for Ornithology) and Yutaka Watanuki (School of Fisheries Science, Hokkaido University) have now been translated into English and are available open-access in the Science Archives (No. 50) of the Japan Foreign Policy Forum’s on-line Discuss Japan.

An adult Short-tailed Albatross, photograph by Hiroshi Hasegawa

References:

Deguchi, T. 2018.  The conservation of endangered albatross species.  [translated from]  Seibutsu No Kagaku Iden 72: 154-155.

Watanuki, Y 2018.  New developments in albatross conservation - using biologging to elucidate behavior in the ocean.  [translated from]  Seibutsu No Kagaku Iden 72: 1654-170.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 26 November 2018

                                      ***** Watch a short video on the loss of East Island here *****

When Hurricane Walaka worked its way across the northern Pacific Ocean in the first few days of October this year it swept over the USA’s French Frigate Shoals (FFS) in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, part of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.  No-one was on the island group at the time, following a pre-storm evacuation of seven researchers,  but a satellite photograph taken after theCategory-5 (at its height)  hurricane showed that a storm surge had all but completely washed away East Island, one of the small ( 4.5 ha) sandy islets on the western edge of the shoals – and in the face of the storm.

East Island, French Frigate Shoals, before and after Hurricane Walaka

Both Black-footed Phoebastria nigripes and Laysan P. immutabilis Albatrosses breed (or bred) on East Island.  According to counts made annually from 1997 to 2011 in the French Frigate Shoals by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service rounded averages of c. 1700 Black-footed and c. 300 Laysan pairs bred.  These totals represent roughly 40% of the FFS’s Black-footed Albatross breeding population and about 13% of its Laysan Albatrosses.  The FFS research station closed after being destroyed in a severe storm in December 2012 so there have been no complete albatross nest counts on the FFS in winter since then.

A Black-footed Albatross chick on East Island, photograph courtesy of the United States Fish & Wildlife Service

Nearby Trig Island on the FFS had previously disappeared this year due to high wave activity not attributed to a specific storm (and Whale-Skate Island was lost to erosion during the 1990s). Trig also supported breeding albatross populations but in lower numbers than did East.  The largest island in the FFS, Tern Island, is considered to have lost approximately one third of its surface area during the hurricane, with its vegetation replaced by sand.  The effect on its albatross populations will need assessment once breeding commences.  A post-hurricane visit by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists over 25/26 October to the FFS to collect marine debris and conduct "Rapid Ecological Assessments" reports:

"At Tern Island, storm surge deposited sand and debris across the island, swept away vegetation, caused erosion, and changed habitat conditions. Portions of the island were completely overwashed or inundated by the ocean. Plants such as beach heliotrope (heliotropium foertherianum) were uprooted, burrows of nesting seabirds were flooded, and infrastructure left behind from the island’s days as a U.S. Navy airfield in World War II and a U.S. Coast Guard Long Range Navigation radio station were significantly damaged or destroyed.  Unfortunately, some seabirds were also killed and turtle nests washed away by the storm" (click here).

Fortunately when Walaka hit the FFS no albatrosses had as yet returned to commence their 2018/19 breeding season.  However, this month they have been returning and several thousand birds will find their breeding site has gone.  Future censuses may give an indication whether they have been able to move elsewhere in the French Frigate Shoals.

“This event is confronting biologists with what the future could look like.  With global warming and rising sea levels, atolls around the world will struggle to persist.  The scientific community has long warned that anthropogenic climate change influences extreme weather events.  The loss of this important island is another very real example of that.”

East Island, that was second largest islet in the French Frigate Shoals, was also an important refuge for pupping Hawaiian Monk Seals Neomonachus schauinslandi and egg-laying Green Turtles Chelonia mydas.  A few seals could still be seen on a tiny sandy remnant of the islet visible on the post-hurricane satellite photo.

Read more via the following links:

https://www.papahanaumokuakea.gov/new-news/2018/10/23/ffs-bulletin/?fbclid=IwAR30bprofScew5wterQGOfW4oNpCpOi02VJmNNRqpLMhK_Q1ccGlChqqRgo

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/24/hawaiian-island-erased-by-powerful-hurricane

https://www.civilbeat.org/2018/10/this-remote-hawaiian-island-just-vanished/?fbclid=IwAR2WdqGN86CwhQrGFDIKcB3lGQYI9BpexJVhFmxG660qTQL1tUdWHh15XQg

https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/108093462/storm-wipes-hawaiian-island-off-map?fbclid=IwAR18Hc9dWcGgV8poM2ywCQ261uylM8wkWIEYh3k3XNaat5XATreiggYCZv4

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hawaii-east-island-lost-to-hurricane-walaka-french-frigate-shoals-climate-change_us_5bcf2a8ee4b055bc9484e803

With thanks to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service field crews who braved difficult winter boating conditions to count albatrosses each year and to Beth Flint and Ridge Souza, Marine National Monuments of the Pacific, USFWS, Honolulu, Hawaii.

References:

Amerson, A.B. 2012.  The Coral Carrier. French Frigate Shoals, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands: a History.  Dallas: Binion Amerson Books.  262 pp.

 Arata, J.A., Sievert, P.R. & Naughton, M.B. 2009.  Status assessment of Laysan and Black-footed Albatrosses, North Pacific Ocean, 1923-2005.  U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2009-5131.  80 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP information Officer, 23 November 2018, updated 27 November 2018