Date: June 1, 2017
Source: American Ornithological
Society Publications Office
The island of Kauai is home to
two endangered seabirds, the Hawaiian Petrel and the Newell's Shearwater.
Monitoring these birds, which are nocturnal and nest in hard-to-access areas,
is challenging, but observing the movements of birds via radar offers a
solution. A new study from The Condor: Ornithological Applications takes a
fresh look at two decades of radar data -- and comes to worrying conclusions
about the status of both species.
To assess the population trends
and distribution of the birds in recent decades, André Raine of the Kauai
Endangered Seabird Recovery Project and his colleagues examined past and
contemporary radar surveys as well as data on the numbers of shearwater
fledglings rescued after being attracted to artificial lights. Their results
shows continuing population declines in both species over the last twenty years
-- a 78% reduction in radar detections for Hawaiian Petrels and a 94% reduction
for Newell's Shearwaters, with the shearwater decline mirrored in decreasing
numbers of recovered fledglings over time.
For shearwaters, this is
consistent with previously published work, but past analyses of petrel radar
data suggested their population was stable or potentially increasing. The researchers
attribute the difference to the fact that for this new study, they carefully
standardized the data based on sunset times, which ensured that the time
periods (and thus bird movement periods) under consideration remained constant
from the beginning to the end of the survey period. They believe that the steep
declines may have commenced in earnest in the aftermath of Hurricane Iniki in
1992, which led to permanent ecological changes such as the opening of new
routes for invasion by exotic predators and plants, as well as significant
infrastructure changes across the island.
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