Desecheo Island is a National Wildlife Refuge managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) off the coast of Puerto Rico.  Its past seabird populations of frigate birds, tropic birds, boobies and terns were greatly reduced by introduced predators that included feral goats (removed in 2009), Black Rats Rattus rattus and Rhesus Macaques Macaca mulatta.  After a decade long campaign all these aliens have been removed from the 146-ha island, with the rats and monkeys (save a single female) going in 2017, and the seabirds have started to return (click here).

Attempts are now being made by partners Island Conservation, FWS, and Effective Environmental Restoration (EER) to attract Audubon’s Shearwaters Puffinus lherminieri to the island using a solar-powered sound system to broadcast the species’ calls: “although there were no records of this species inhabiting Desecheo Island, the nesting habitat on the island is ideal for this species, with many crevices and burrows along the rocky coast. The species visits nearby islands so we know it is around, it is just a matter of setting up the right scenario on Desecheo for it to visit it as well”.

The Audubon's Shearwater is partially obscured by the speaker

In March this year footage from a trail camera revealed an Audubon’s Shearwater sitting on top of one of the speakers at night.  Future visits to the island will look for signs of breeding by the shearwater.

John Cooper, AAP Information Officer, 6 July 2018

The 2017/2018 Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis breeding season in the Kaena Point Natural Area Reserve on the Hawaiian island of Oahu has resulted in 60 chicks fledging, the highest number so far according to Pacific Rim Conservation that monitors the birds.  The previous high was 54 birds successfully fledging in 2015 (from the 2014/15 season).

A Laysan Albatross fledgling, still carrying some down on its head, takes to flight.  Photograph by Pacific Rim Conservation

The high figure is despite the setback in December 2015 when intruders killed an estimated 15 incubating adults one night (click here and follow the string backwards).

Kaena Point is fenced against predators and acts an “insurance” colony against predicted sea-level rise that will deleteriously affect the low-lying albatross breeding atolls in the North-western Hawaiian Islands.

Information from the Facebook page of Pacific Rim Conservation and previous postings.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 25 July 2018

On 22 June 2012 several dogs ran through two of the larger privately-owned Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis colonies on the Hawaiian island of Kauai and killed eight chicks and injured five more a few days before they were ready to fledge.  The dogs were probably domestic pets that had been allowed to run loose; the colonies attacked were not fenced (click here).

The five injured chicks were taken into care by Save Our Shearwaters, a multispecies rehabilitation effort of the Kauai Humane Society.  Four of the birds were eventually released.  Two (A432 - which required anaesthesia and suturing of its wounds - and A441) have since been re-sighted on Kauai (click here).  A432 (thought to be a female) as a four-year old found a partner (K855) during the 2016/2017 breeding season and laid an egg during the 2017/2018 season – in a fenced site.  The chick (H679) hatched from this egg has now successfully fledged.

A432 under rehabilitation as a chick after being attacked by dogs in 2012, photograph by Save our Shearwaters

A432 checks its first egg in the2017/08 breeding season, photograph by Hob Osterlund

A432's first chick (H679) shortly before fledging, 13 July 2018, photograph from Jeanine Myers/Save our Shearwaters

Information from the Save our Shearwater’s Facebook page and previous postings.

Read more about attacks by dogs on Laysan Albatrosses, and other seabirds, on Kauai here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 24 July 2018

Peter Ryan (FitzPatrick Institute, University of Cape Town, South Africa) has published in the Marine Pollution Bulletin on avian entanglements from discarded materials.  Thirty-six per cent of seabird species have been recorded entangled by plastic litter, mainly derived from fishing.  55% (17 of 31) of the ACAP-listed species have been reported entangled, including 12 albatross species and both giant petrels Macronectes.  Two of the five Procellaria petrels have been so reported.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Entanglement of animals is one of the main environmental impacts of waste plastic. A 2015 review of entanglement records found that the proportion of affected seabirds increased from 16% of species to 25% over the last two decades. However, this was restricted to published records; Google Images and other web-based sources indicate that at least 147 seabird species (36%), as well as 69 freshwater birds (10%) and 49 landbirds (0.5%) from 53 families have been entangled in plastic or other synthetic materials. Fishing gear is responsible for entangling most species (83%), although it is often difficult to differentiate entanglement from bycatch on active gear. Mitigation measures include banning high-risk applications where there are alternatives (e.g. six-pack rings), discouraging the use of high-risk items (e.g. balloons on strings, ‘manja’ kites), and encouraging fishers to not discard waste fishing gear by providing specific receptacles and associated educational signage in fishing areas.”

A beached Black-footed Albatross Phoebastria nigripes carcass found entangled by a balloon string (click here)

Reference:

Ryan, P.G. 2018.  Entanglement of birds in plastics and other synthetic materials.   Marine Pollution Bulletin doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2018.06.057. (Species information is in a supplementary table).

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 23 July 2018