KILAUEA — At least 11 breeding or prospecting pairs of ‘A‘o, or Newell’s Shearwater, have been recorded at the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge this year. This is the highest number ever found on the refuge, states a release from the
KILAUEA — At least 11 breeding or prospecting pairs of ‘A‘o, or Newell’s Shearwater, have been recorded at the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge this year.
This is the highest number ever found on the refuge, states a release from the Kilauea Point NWR.
The ‘A‘o, an endangered species, is only found on the Hawaiian Islands with Kaua‘i being home to about 90 percent of the world’s population. A true mariner, the bird spends most of its time out at sea where it roams for thousands of miles, returning to land during the breeding season, which runs from April to November.
The majority of Newell’s Shearwater nest in native habitat in the mountains, making the Kilauea Point population unique in that the birds are breeding in a coastal area.
The population was initially established during an egg translocation project in the 1980s when ‘A‘o eggs were brought out of the mountain colonies where they were being eaten by introduced predators and placed in the nest of ‘U‘au, or the Wedge-tailed Shearwater, another native species, to rear.
The project was undertaken in the hopes of establishing a population in a relatively safe area where they could be actively protected because the numbers of Newell’s Shearwater were rapidly declining.
The majority of birds fledged successfully during the initial year, but the breeding population on the refuge has remained small since the initial project.
In 2007, the Kaua‘i Endangered Seabird Recovery Project, in collaboration with the refuge, set up a “social attraction” project to try and encourage more ‘A‘o to breed in Kilauea.
This involved two speakers, which play the bird’s calls at night throughout the breeding season.
“Social attraction projects have been successfully used to attract endangered seabirds in many other countries, most notably New Zealand,” says Dr. Andre Raine, the Kaua‘i Endangered Seabird Recovery Project coordinator, in a news release. “By playing calls of these birds at night, new birds are drawn into the area to see what is going on. If they find the area suitable, (they) may return to breed in following years. This can be a vital conservation tool for this species in other areas on Kaua‘i in the future.”
Many of the Kilauea Point ‘A‘o pairs have been confirmed as currently having chicks this year, suggesting the breeding season at Kilauea Point NWR has so far been very successful.
The pairs represent an important, protected population of a species that has seen dramatic population declines of approximately 75 percent in recent years, resulting in that it is now listed as “threatened” and protected under the Endangered Species Act.
The decline of the Newell’s Shearwater is due to a number of reasons, including being attacked and eaten by introduced species such as rats, Barn Owls and feral cats.
Other problems include loss of breeding habitat from introduced plants and animals, the effects of light pollution and collisions with power lines.
“It is gratifying to work with a ‘threatened’ species, which responds positively to management techniques,” said Kim Uyehara, a refuge biologist. “This suggests that the refuge can play an important role and people can make a difference in conservation and recovery of Hawai‘i’s rare seabirds.”
The areas where ‘A‘o breed at the refuge are closed to the public to protect this listed species, but visitors can potentially see, or hear them from the shore at dusk when they are coming in to land from the sea.
Visitors to the refuge during this time of the year will have the opportunity to see the large nesting colony of ‘U‘au kani along with a range of other native seabirds and the endangered Hawaiian Goose, or Nene.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
