Kauaʻi Endangered Seabird Recovery Project

To study and conserve the Newell’s Shearwater, Hawaiian Petrel, and Band-rumped Storm-Petrel, the Kauaʻi Endangered Seabird Recovery Project uses a number of different research and survey methodologies every year.  Several of these are outlined below.

Auditory Surveys

The first step in conserving a species is to understand where they are.  In the rugged terrain of Kauaʻi this represents a serious challenge, as for the most part the birds nest at high elevations in dense native forests or on sheer cliff faces that drop thousands of feet.  Locating the birds is not easy!  To do this requires intensive survey work at night or in the early morning at specific times of the year, when the birds are most active and vocal.  KESRP staff use a combination of techniques to locate the birds, including recording their calls, mapping the location of calling intensity and actual nest sites, and using high tech gear such as thermal imaging cameras and night vision goggles to see birds in the darkness.  This has allowed us to plot their distribution throughout Kauaʻi where survey work has been undertaken.  To date, over 400 auditory surveys have been conducted by KESRP at locations throughout the island, and more are scheduled each year in areas still to be explored.

Sunset at Upper Limahuli Preserve

View of the mouth of Awa‘awa‘puhi Valley through night vision during evening surveys for Newell’s Shearwaters

A different view of a Newell’s Shearwater – seen through night vision at Kilauea Point NWR. Photo by Brooke McFarland

A courting pair of Wedge-tailed Shearwater seen through the night vision goggles during seabird surveys at Lehua. Photo by Andre Raine

View through night vision goggles – photo by Andre Raine

Radar surveys

Because shearwaters and petrels come to their colonies at night and nest in hard to reach locations, charting population trends is particularly difficult.  This is where radar comes into play.  By surveying with surveillance radar from 15 fixed locations around the coast we can track the number of birds moving from the sea to inland breeding colonies.  Using several standard criteria (such as speed and timing of movement) it is possible to separate out our target species and get an idea of number of birds moving over our survey sites per hour.  Comparing this data with previous years then gives us an idea of how populations are changing over time.

Radar screen – dotted lines represent seabirds in flight. Photo by Andre Raine

Radar survey truck

Radar survey truck

The monitor displays seabirds flying by the radar survey area

Radar clutter map overlay on satellite image helps determine where the seabirds are flying

Colony Monitoring

Protecting endangered species requires a number of different management techniques, from predator control to ungulate exclusion, habitat management to controlling man-made threats.  Understanding how populations respond to these changes is critical as it allows us to ascertain how successful our management techniques are.  To this end, KESRP monitors a number of known Newell’s Shearwater and Hawaiian Petrel breeding burrows in several remote locations (such as Hono o Na Pali NAR and Upper Limahuli Preserve) on an annual basis, collecting data on fledging success rates, reasons for failure and site fidelity.  Burrows are monitored using burrow scopes, remote cameras and other technologies that decrease the amount of direct contact needed with the burrow itself.  Adults and juvenile birds are also banded to allow for a more detailed understanding of individual survival rates and site fidelity.

Hawaiian Petrel pair being cozy in their burrow. Photo by Andre Raine

The rugged and steep nesting habitat of Newell’s Shearwater. Photo by Andre Raine

Weatherport at North Bog, Hono O Na Pali NAR. Photo by Andre Raine

Hiking to remote burrows in Hono O Na Pali NAR. Photo by Erin Pickett

The team being picked up in Hono O Na Pali NAR. Photo by Andre Raine

Field Season 2015 commences – taxi ride back from Upper Limahuli Preserve. Photo by Andre Raine

Hawaiian Petrel chick in its burrow. Photo by Andre Raine

A camera monitoring a Hawaiian Petrel burrow in Upper Limahuli Preserve. Photo by Andre Raine.

Telemetry

Protecting the Newell’s Shearwater, Hawaiian Petrel, and Band-rumped Storm-Petrel requires us to understand not only what the birds are doing on land, but also what they are doing at sea.  Tracking seabirds to their key feeding grounds, or ascertaining where their main wintering grounds lie, are critical aspects to their future survival.  To do this, KESRP research staff have started attaching minute tracking tags to both Newell’s Shearwater and Hawaiian Petrel in an effort to chart their dispersal at sea.  Through the use of geolocators, data loggers, and satellite tags we can start to understand not only where these fantastic birds go, but also what potential threats await them.

Minute devices, such as this Lotek LAT2900-1 geolocator, allow us to track seabirds at sea (photo by Trevor Joyce)

Last week, satellite tags were attached to 5 Hawaiian Petrels (each with a chick) to track their movements during the breeding season in a collaborative project between KESRP and USGS WERC (with funding from Bureau of Ocean Energy Management). One of the birds, ‘Red99’ has now traveled 2,276km away on a single feeding trip and still going!

After 5,288km and 13 days, Hawaiian Petrel ‘Red99’ is now apparently making the U turn to head home to its chick back on Kaua’i – as part of a collaborative Hawaiian Petrel tagging project between KESRP and USGS WERC (with funding from Bureau of Ocean Energy Management)

Satellite tagged Hawaiian Petrel ‘Red99′, now only 34km away from home…… surely its chick is looking forward to its parents’ return, 21 days and 9,794km later!

Additional Seabird Surveys

As well as working with Kauaʻi’s three endangered seabirds, KESRP also undertakes additional survey work on other seabird species. This ranges from direct counts of nesting Laysan and Black-footed Albatross on the island of Lehua to Wedge-tailed Shearwater banding and monitoring of nesting colonies at sites on Kauaʻi. As well as giving us more information on these other seabird species, studying more common species such as the Wedge-tailed Shearwater can serve as a proxy for understanding impacts of different management techniques on the endangered seabirds on which KESRP is predominantly focused.