Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge
Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge is one of the best places on the main Hawaiian islands to view wildlife. The refuge was established for the protection of threatened and endangered species, and is home to the largest populations of nesting seabirds in Hawai‘i. Visitors also have a chance to observe Hawaiian monk seals (‘ilio holo i ka uaua), humpback whales (koholā), spinner dolphins (nai‘a), green turtles (honu), and native Hawaiian coastal plants.
Thousands of migratory seabirds use Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge each year for nesting, foraging, or resting. Laysan albatross (moli), red-footed boobies (‘a), brown boobies (‘a), red-tailed tropicbirds (koa‘e ‘ula), white-tailed tropicbirds (koa ‘e‘kea), great frigatebirds (‘iwa), newell’s shearwater (‘a’o), and wedge-tailed shearwaters (ua‘u‘ kani) all visit the refuge. In addition, the endangered Hawaiian goose (nene), and migratory shorebirds like the Pacific golden plover (kōlea) can be seen. Native Hawaiian coastal plants including naupaka kahakai, ‘ilima, hala, ‘āheahea, ‘akoko, and the rare ālula have been restored on the refuge.
The refuge operates a store filled with books, guides, exhibits, and educational resources, as well as maintains informative displays around the grounds, and conducts interpretive and environmental education activities. It is also home to the historic Kilauea Point Lighthouse which sits on the remanent of the Kilauea volcanic vent that last erupted about 15,000 years ago. Today, only a small U-shaped portion remains, including a spectacular ocean bluff. The National Wildlife Refuge system was established in 1903 to start conserving and recovering habitats and their wildlife populations. This is the largest acreage of public lands and waters set aside for fish, wildlife, and plants in the world – with more than 150 million acres, at least 1 refuge in every state, and nine in Hawaii.
State Of The Birds Hawaii
More bird species are vulnerable to extinction in Hawaii than anywhere else in the United States. Before the arrival of people, the Hawaiian Islands supported 113 bird species unique in the world, including 59 species of Hawaiian honeycreepers. Since humans arrived, 71 bird species have become extinct and 31 more are federally listed as threatened or endangered. Of these, 10 have not been seen in as long as 40 years and may be extinct.
Hawaiian birds federally listed as endangered are:
- Short-tailed Albatross
- Hawaiian Petrel
- Nene
- Hawaiian Duck (Koloa)
- Laysan Duck
- Hawaiian Hawk (`Io)
- Hawaiian Moorhen (`Alae `Ula)
- Hawaiian Coot (`Alae Ke`oke`o)
- Hawaiian Stilt (Ae`o)
- Hawaiian Crow (`Alalā)
- O’ahu Elepaio
- Nihoa Millerbird
- Kāma’o
- Oloma’o
- Puaiohi
- Kauai ‘Ō’ō
- Laysan Finch
- Nihoa Finch
- ‘Ō’ū
- Palila
- Maui Parrotbill
- Kaua’i ‘Akialoa
- Nukupu’u
- ‘Akiapōlā’au
- Hawaii Creeper
- O’ahu ‘Alauahio
- Kākāwahie, Hawaii ‘kepa
- Maui ‘kepa
- ‘kohekohe
- Po’ouli
- Newell’s Shearwater (threatened)
Still, there are reasons for hope.
- Laysan Ducks have been translocated to Midway Atoll, where the population is thriving.
- In 1994, it was estimated that less than 200 Puaiohi survived in the wild. Then a research and management program focused on two strategies: protecting nests and fledglings from rats, and removing first-clutch eggs from nests to create a captive flock.
- Population growth of forest birds such as the Hawai`i Creeper and `Akiapōlā`au has been dramatic in the Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge, where they are fencing to exclude feral mammals, aggressively managing invasive plants, and replanting endangered plants.
- Rats were eradicated from Midway Atoll, resulting in an increase of Bonin Petrels.
- Setting aside 7,500-acres at the Hanawi Natural Area Reserve now supports some of Hawaii’s most important concentrations of native birds, including `kohekohe and Maui Parrotbill.
more…
State Of The Birds 2009
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
Hawaiian Birds and Newell’s Shearwater Breeding
Newell’s Shearwater breed on Kaua‘i mainly between 525 – 3,936 feet elevation on steep, densely vegetated slopes. They also nest on the dry, sparsely vegetated cliffs of the Na Pali coast. It is here they build their borrows.
At the end of April, adult Newell’s shearwaters (Puffinus newelli) arrive at their island nesting grounds. During the beginning of June, they lay a single egg into a burrow which has been dug under matted ferns or tussock grass, often at the base of a tree. The egg is incubated by both parents for around 50 – 60 days, and they continue their parental care when the egg hatches. The parents spend the daylight hours foraging in the ocean surrounding the island, travelling up to 1,200 kilometres from the colony, and returning at night to feed the chick. By November, the young will have fledged and the parents provide no further care, leaving the young to begin their own life on the open ocean. When they fly out to sea, they and are no longer dependent on their parents. During the first year of life, Newell’s shearwaters do not visit breeding islands, but as they age, they will visit colonies for progressively longer periods, until they first breed at the age of six.
In 1908, the Newell’s was thought to be extinct but was rediscovered in 1947 and found breeding on Kauaʻi in 1967. Like many island breeding species, Newell’s Shearwater populations have been decimated over the years by hunting, habitat loss, avian malaria, and predators. This latter threat is now the most serious one facing the species. The eggs, young, and adults are vulnerable to attack by introduced cats, rats, mongoose, pigs, and Barn Owls. Effects of urbanization, including collisions with power lines during their nocturnal flights, and the fatal behavior of encircling city lights, are also cause for concern as hundreds of birds are killed annually from these factors.
Photo by Jim Denny
Hawaiian Birds and Newell’s Shearwater
Hawaiians called Newell’s Shearwater ‘A’o for the moan-like call this seabird emits when in its burrow. The word shearwater comes from the way it hunts for food by skimming close to the surface of the water, then plunging through the waves to catch the fish or squid it spotted from the air. The shearwater seems to slice through, or shear through the ocean spray as it flies in search of food.
The Newell’s Shearwater (Puffinus newelli) is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands, and highly pelagic year-round. It is a fairly small shearwater at 13 inches in length, and adult males and females are dark, sooty brown above, with white throat, white underparts, with the legs and feet that are mainly pale pink. It has a dark bill, with a hooked bill and sharp blades, enabling it to deal with slippery prey easily. Their flight is fast and usually low over water, powered by rapid wing beats interspersed with glides. They often forage in large flocks of mixed species (with wedge-tailed shearwaters, sooty terns, and boobies) following schools of large, predatory fish which drive smaller prey species to the surface. The Newell’s shearwater feed mainly by plunging into the water and swimming using their partly folded wings for propulsion. They can swim underwater, probably down to 10 meters, and swallow multiple prey.
It is named after Brother Matthias Newell, a missionary who worked in Hawaii from 1886 to 1924. Newell’s shearwater breeds only in the Hawaiian Islands: principally Kaua‘i, but also Hawai‘i, and Moloka‘i. It breeds in at least 20 colonies on mountain slopes, and from April to November it can be seen in the waters around the Hawaiian Islands, particularly around Kauaʻi. Although time on shore represents only a small fraction of this bird’s life, the breeding grounds have contributed to its own downfall. Serious population declines are attributed to degraded island habitat, collisions with power lines, fatal attraction to lights, and depredation by introduced land predators. To avoid predation by pigs, mongooses, and cats, nests are found at higher elevations in burrows on steep slopes where they lay a single egg.
