Hawaiian Birds and Shearwater Conservation

The Newell’s Shearwater was listed as a threatened species in 1975. Because Shearwaters nest on the ground, they are often attacked by dogs, mongoose, rats, and cats. For this reason, shearwaters in Hawaii mostly nest on the small offshore islands, except on Kauai, where they are still found on the main island. Kilauea Point, is the home of a large colony of Shearwaters where they are protected from their enemies by fences and trapping.

Other threats are historic hunting, habitat degradation, artificial lighting, overfishing, disease, and catastrophes. Archaeological evidence shows that ancient Hawaiians utilized shearwaters and petrels as a food source. Abundant remains of shearwaters have been found in ancient Hawaiian settlements. Shearwaters are likely to be impacted by the degradation of suitable nesting habitat. Already 75 percent of Kaua’i's natural forest has been lost in the last 150 years. Out at sea, overfishing of tuna species, which aid the shearwater by driving prey to the surface, may eventually affect them. Given that the majority of Newell’s shearwaters breed on a single island, this makes them highly vulnerable to the impacts of catastrophic events, such as hurricanes.

Every autumn many of the little fledgling Newell’s shearwater birds leaving their colonies and head for the sea where they will feed on their own for the first time. During this maiden voyage, the birds often become disoriented by bright lights, crash into structures, and fall to the ground exhausted. This leaves the birds vulnerable to cars, cats, dogs, starvation, and dehydration. Since the early 1980s, efforts have been made to reduce the amount of glaring lights that attract and disorientate shearwaters. In 2006, a law was passed which requires all non-essential lights to be turned off or shielded between September and December on Kaua’i. The Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative has completed work on all of its 3,049 light poles on Kaua‘i, installing a housing that blocks the light from escaping upward.

A driving force behind conservation actions for these endangered birds is the Save our Shearwaters campaign to rescue and rehabilitate fallen fledglings. Save our Shearwaters, which began in 1978, recovers and releases around 2,000 disorientated shearwaters each year. An estimated 90% of all Newell’s Shearwater strandings are returned to safety each year, with more than 25,000 birds rescued to date. Hundreds of fledgling Wedge-tailed Shearwaters are also rescued. Photo by Jim Denny