A Wedge-tailed Shearwater chick at at Kama'ole III

The Wedge-tailed Shearwater or 'ua'u kani Ardenna pacifica colony at Kama'ole Beach Park III on the Hawaiian island of Maui has grown from 387 burrows in 2019 to 1069 burrows this season, an increase of 176%.  This increase has followed a predator control programme including against feral cats.  Habitat restoration efforts by the Maui Nui Seabird Recovery Project (MNSRP) have been directed at removing non-native vegetation that can shelter such predators (click here).

“The Maui Nui Seabird Recovery Project (MNSRP) began in March of 2006 when project staff documented the presence of a significant breeding colony of Endangered Hawaiian Petrels (HAPE) [Pterodroma sandwichensis] in the upper reaches of the Lāna‘i watershed. This colony is the second largest known breeding colony of HAPE in Hawaii.  Project staff began work to protect the seabirds by removing predators and habitat altering plants that were taking over the breeding colony.  On Maui and Moloka’i MNSRP continues to search for seabird colonies, provide protections where funding and staffing permit and to provide public education about the importance of seabirds in our natural environment.  The project collaborates with researchers, managers and regulators to focus efforts as well as possible to benefit our seabirds.”

Maui Nui Seabirds is a project of the Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit of the University of Hawaii at Manoa in association with the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resourcess, Division of Forestry and Wildlife and the NGO Pacific Rim Conservation.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 30 December 2021

A burrow-nesting Westland Petrel beside its egg; photograph by Reuben Lane

David Hawke (Ara Institute of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand) has published an article in the New Zealand of Ecology that reviews how breeding Westland Petrels Procellaria westlandica affect biogeochemical processes at their breeding sites.

The paper’s abstract follows:

The Westland petrel (Procellaria westlandica) is a 1200 g medium-sized seabird whose breeding colonies are dispersed across 700 ha of forest on the western coast of South Island, New Zealand. These birds represent the sole landscape-scale lowland remnant of formerly widespread petrel and shearwater colonies in mainland New Zealand and provide an opportunity to investigate maritime species’ impact on terrestrial ecosystems characteristic of pre-human New Zealand. This review develops a conceptual model of biogeochemical processes influenced by Westland petrels from a single burrow to individual colonies and thence to a catchment scale. Results show the distinctiveness of the Westland petrel system, with colonies moving around the landscape in response to local damage by earthquakes and storms. Based on monitored streams in forested landscapes elsewhere, storms also control N and P fluxes to streams. Non-seabird temperate forests are dominated by mycorrhizal plant-soil interactions, but the high N and P status of Westland petrel colony soils minimises the role of fungi in soil processes, including trace element (Se) uptake. The more N-rich C:N ratio in tree foliage within habitat occupied by the colony may provide nutritional support for terrestrial herbivorous animals, including those whose ranges extend beyond the colony. Overall, the review emphasises the spatial and temporal dynamics of the Westland petrel terrestrial ecosystem, and highlights potential ecological linkages that connect colonies to the wider landscape.

Reference:

Hawke, D. 2022.  The biogeochemistry and ecological impact of Westland petrels (Procellaria westlandica) on terrestrial ecosystems.  New Zealand Journal of Ecology 46(1): 3455.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 29 December 2021

 
Hutton's Shearwaters at sea; photograph by Lorna Deppe

Della Bennet (School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand) and colleagues have published in the New Zealand of Ecology on at-sea foraging behaviour of the Endangered Hutton’s Shearwater Puffinus huttoni.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Stable isotope analysis of feathers can provide an indirect method to investigate the diet and foraging locations of birds during the time the feathers were growing. We used the isotopic composition of experimentally-induced feathers to investigate the foraging locations of the Hutton’s shearwater (Puffinus huttoni), an endangered seabird that is a breeding endemic to the Kaikōura region of New Zealand. The isotopic composition of feathers was first compared with potential prey items collected from the near-shore marine environment near the breeding colony. By applying trophic fractionation factors (2–4 ‰ increase in δ15N for every 1 ‰ increase in δ13C) and comparing the isotopic composition of the induced tail feathers and sampled prey items, we found that feather isotopic compositions were not consistent with a diet based on feeding locally. Both the δ13C and δ15N from zooplankton and fish collected within 8 km of Kaikōura were significantly different than the isotopic composition of induced feathers and were outside of the range expected for consumed local prey items. Instead, we found the isotopic composition of Hutton’s shearwater feathers was more consistent with feeding on potential prey items in the seas north-east and around Banks Peninsula, an area c. 100 km south of the breeding colony and where they had been tracked previously. Stable isotope analysis can provide insight into the foraging behaviour of birds at sea and demonstrates the importance of isotopic research in pinpointing foraging locations in seabirds with large geographic ranges.”

Reference:

Bennet, D.G., Horton, T.W., Goldstien, S.J., Rowe, L. & Briskie, J.V. 2022.  At-sea foraging behaviour in Hutton’s shearwater (Puffinus huttoni) as revealed by stable isotope analysis.  New Zealand Journal of Ecology 46(1): 3462.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 28 December 2022

ACAP-listed and Vulnerable Spectacled Petrel Procellaria conspicillata; photograph by Peter Ryan

The ACAP Secretariat extends season’s greetings and its best wishes for an albatross- and petrel-friendly and a safe 2022 to all the readers of ACAP Latest News and to the over 5800 followers of the Agreement's Facebook page.

The Seventh Session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Agreement (MoP7), is planned to be held in Hobart, Australia from 9-13 May 2022, unless COVID-19 restrictions preclude a meeting in person, in which case MoP7 will be held virtually

In 2022 ACAP will continue to support World Albatross Day on 19 June for the third year with its chosen theme of Climate Change, producing new artworks, infographics and posters to celebrate the day.

Christine Bogle, John Cooper and Wiesława Misiak, ACAP Secretariat, 27 December 2021