SPECIAL TO THE GARDEN ISLAND The amount of support Kaua‘i’s seabirds garners from the community, both professional and otherwise, was on display recently at the Pacific Missile Range Faciliy. A team of conservationists from various island agencies converged upon a
SPECIAL TO THE GARDEN ISLAND
The amount of support Kaua‘i’s seabirds garners from the community, both professional and otherwise, was on display recently at the Pacific Missile Range Faciliy.
A team of conservationists from various island agencies converged upon a wedge-tailed shearwater, or Puffinus pacificus, colony on the Navy facility on Oct. 11.
Sharon Reilly, coordinator for the Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative’s Save Our Shearwaters program, brought a team of SOS field technicians to the PMRF shearwater colony to meet and train with Dr. Nick
Holmes and Brett Hartl of the Kaua‘i Endangered Bird Recovery Group and Andrea Erichsen, the Kaua‘i Seabird Habitat Conservation Plan Coordinator with the Hawai‘i Division of Forestry and Wildlife.
The team went over techniques for bird handling and banding, as well as methods used for the collection of important population data.
Although each agency has different primary goals, they all share the same basic commitment to the monitoring and protection of the island’s various seabird populations.
“We conduct research on the ecology of the bird to understand how it can best be protected,” Holmes said.
The research Holmes conducts includes all seabirds, but focuses more on the Newell’s shearwaters, or Puffinus newelli. While the wedge-tailed shearwaters like those found at PMRF trend to colonize close to the waters of the Pacific, Newell’s shearwaters reside much farther inland and, as a result, are prone to higher fallout numbers, or unintended impact before reaching the ocean resulting in injury or death.
SOS maintains a number of aid stations around the island where people can bring fallen seabirds for evaluation, treatment and release. Birds that arrive at these aid stations are rehabilitated and subsequently released back into the wild.
A Newell’s shearwater and a white-tailed tropicbird, or Phaethon lepturus, were two birds rescued in such a manner and brought to the PMRF outing to demonstrate how to properly release rehabilitated birds. The tropicbird was not ready for release and opted instead to remain in the care of the SOS staff, but the Newell’s quickly took flight after release.
The colony was briefly surveyed and several nests flagged. Wedgies, as wedge-tailed shearwaters are known, were extracted, measured and banded under the direction of the accomplished ornithologists.
The team of SOS field technicians, Angela Iwai, Monique Imberski and Jason Vercelli, were all given the opportunity to put these techniques to work as they went through the various steps themselves using the tools and instruments specific to this field of work.
After each tech practiced on several birds, the team wrapped up and made commitments with each other for future partnerships.
Heather Young, marketing and communications coordinator for SOS, was pleased with the progress made during the trip and remarked on her own hopes for the future of the shearwaters, petrels, tropicbirds and others.
“I love what we’re all doing for the seabirds in this island,” Young said.
PMRF environmental coordinator John Burger expressed optimism toward how various federal, state and local agencies interact and ensure the seabirds are properly monitored and cared for.
“This is another fine example of the pooling of on-island resources and talents that benefits the native residents of PMRF — furred, feathered, shelled or otherwise.”
