Studying and looking after Wedge-tailed Shearwaters in the Hawaiian Freeman Seabird Preserve for another year

David Hyrenbach (College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Hawai’i Pacific University) has published in 'Elepaio, the journal of the Hawai'i Audubon Society, on the monitoring of 226 active nests of the Wedge-tailed Shearwater Ardenna pacifica in 2016 and restoration efforts at the Freeman Seabird Preserve on the Hawaiian island of Oahu that have been conducted since 2009.

Monitoring

 “In summary, these results suggest that the average productivity documented in 2016 was caused by a combination of factors. The monitoring data suggest that 2016 was a year of high egg losses and low chick losses, with average phenology and chick provisioning, in the context of the available time series (2009 – 2016).  Despite the warm-water conditions observed during the summer, chick growth was not depressed in 2016.”

Restoration

“Habitat restoration efforts continued during 2016. From January through March, while the Wedge-tailed Shearwaters were at sea, Hawai'i Audubon Society members and other volunteers worked to remove alien plant species, to maintain natural nesting sites, and to create new artificial nesting sites. Additional restoration and management efforts in 2017 will continue monitoring the colony and enhancing the breeding habitat at the Freeman Seabird Preserve.”

Wedge-tailed Shearwater burrows in the Freeman Seabird Preserve , photograph by Davd Hyrenbach

Reference:

Hyrenbach, K.D. 2017.  A year of average productivity and provisioning at the Freeman Seabird Preserve 2016.  'Elepaio 77(2): 13-14.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 14 March 2017