Avian matchmaking on Valentine’s Day

BirdLife's Dr Mark O'Brien tests the speakers for Vatu-i-ra island, Fiji.

Two staff from the BirdLife Fiji Programme and the Pacific Secretariat gave up any amorous intentions of their own on Valentine’s Day to try a little avian matchmaking.

Together with volunteers from the Vatu-i-ra Site Support Group (SSG), the team spent three days on Vatu-i-ra Island, Fiji, installing a solar-powered sound system designed to broadcast the calls of several threatened seabirds in a bid to attract them back to the island.

“We’re very excited to be contributing to the conservation of one of Fiji’s rarer species,” said Sione Gonewai of the Yavusa Nagilogilo, also Chair of the Vatu-i-ra Site Support Group.

“As the owners of Vatu-i-ra our community recognises our role as custodians of the site. We’ve been working to protect the island, its seabirds and the marine environment upon which they depend for a number of years.”

In 2006 with the local community BirdLife undertook a successful eradication of Pacific rats, accidentally introduced by people many centuries before. Introduced mammals have been the number one driver of bird extinctions and their impact has been particularly severe in the Pacific. However, thanks to a great deal of hard work across the BirdLife Pacific Partnership a number of islands around the region have now been cleared of invasives.

These sites are acting as safe havens for many species and Vatu-i-ra is no exception. The island supports internationally significant populations of several noddies, terns and boobies; and already since the eradication survey teams have recorded encouraging signs of regeneration such as an apparent increase in the number of ground-nesting birds like Crested and Bridled Terns – those that are most susceptible to predation.

Now the aim is to take full advantage of this site by establishing the first colony of Collared Petrels at a predator free location.

“Our mammal free islands are huge assets”, said Sialesi Rasalato, BirdLife’s Fiji Programme Conservation Officer. “Now we’re really looking to join all the dots and maximise the potential these sites have for conservation”.

Petrels are the most threatened group of seabirds in the tropical Pacific having suffered historical declines owing to both overharvesting of adults and chicks for food and the negative impact of invasive mammals. Collared Petrel was uplisted to Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List in 2011 because available evidence suggests its global population probably numbers fewer than 10,000 individuals and it is experiencing an ongoing decline. Although surveys last year discovered that the species still occurs on a number of islands around Fiji, they also found invasive mammals present at all sites.

Remote playback has proven itself to be an enormously successful tool in New Zealand and elsewhere for attracting threatened seabirds to breed at specific sites. In this case, selecting a predator-free island offers the chance of establishing a colony of a very rare species where one of the major threats has been removed. The speaker system can run for up to five years, switching on every night to broadcast calls and turning itself off again to recharge in daylight. As well as the sound system the team has installed 20 artificial nesting burrows to encourage the first birds in.

“Collared Petrel is an obvious target, but we’re looking to benefit a number of Fiji’s rare and threatened seabirds like Tahiti Petrel and Polynesian Storm-petrel,” commented Sia Rasalato.

2012 marks the start of a real push for petrel conservation in Fiji. NatureFiji-MareqetiViti are continuing their searches for petrel burrows with specially trained dogs on Gau, and have just installed a playback device to begin attracting birds to artificial burrows where they can be effectively monitored and protected. The BirdLife Fiji Programme and the Nabukelevu site support group on Kadavu are also beginning a similar project.

BirdLife would like to acknowledge all of its donors who have supported the important work described here: The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Aage V. Jensen Charity Foundation, the Pacific Seabird Group, the Crowder Messersmith Conservation Fund and Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund.

Avian matchmaking on Valentine’s Day 

Two Fiji petrels caught in Gau

Two Fiji petrels or Kacau ni Gau - recently landed in Nawaikama Village in Gau.

Fiji Petrel. First photograph. The Tubenose project. Hadoram Shirihai

The birds landed exactly a month apart.


For NatureFiji-Mareqeti Viti - the species guardian - this is an extraordinary occurrence - given that the petrels were last sighted in May.


The first bird landed on the night of October 29th.


NatureFiji -Mareqeti Viti Field Manager Eleazar O'Connor inspected the bird and made weight and height measurements.


And - for the first time - a metal tag was attached to the bird's foot with a serial number on it before it was released.


The tag will help identify the bird if it’s found somewhere else.


This was also done to the second petrel which landed on the night of November 29th.


On record - this is the 18th petrel caught so far.


The population of Fiji Petrel is unknown, but believed to be fewer than 50 pairs, and potentially declining due to predation by cats, rats and feral pigs.


The critically endangered species survives and breeds only in Gau - after it was initially found in 1855.

BBC - Earth News - 'Lost seabird' returns to ocean

Editor, Earth News

Up to eight Fiji petrels were seen over an 11-day period

One of the world's rarest and most elusive birds has finally been seen flying in its natural habitat.

The Fiji petrel, a seabird that once "went missing" for 130 years, has been sighted flying at sea, near the island of Gau in the Pacific Ocean.
The culmination of a meticulously planned bird hunt, Birdlife International researchers sighted the birds 25 nautical miles south of Gau.
Up to eight individuals were seen and photographed over 11 days.
The 30cm tall dark-brown Fiji petrel (Pseudobulweria macgillivrayi) is one of the most elusive of all birds.

To see such a little-known bird at such close range was magical Expedition member Mr Tony Pym

Originally, the species was known from just a single immature specimen, collected in 1855 on Gau Island, Fiji.
But then the bird "went missing" with no further confirmed sightings of it for almost 130 years.
Then in 1984, an adult was caught and photographed on Gau, then released.
Since then, there have been a handful of reports of "grounded" birds that had crashed onto village roofs on the island. Most were immature birds, of which a few died.
Due to the extremely limited number of sightings, the bird is also inferred to be one of the rarest of all bird species.
It is one of 192 bird species which are list as Critically Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
Stinky lure
But while there have been ten unconfirmed reports of the bird at sea, with the latest a possible Fiji Petrel sighted around 400km north of Bougainville Island, until now there has been no confirmed sightings.
That was until in May, when scientists and volunteers working with Birdlife International and NatureFiji-MareqetiViti, a partner conservation organisation based in Fiji, set out to find the bird in its natural habitat.
The search for the elusive petrel is described in a paper in the latest Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club.
The researchers lured the bird with a specially made food, made from finely cut fish offal mixed with very dense fish oil.

The Fiji petrel once "went missing" for 130 years

These were then frozen into 10kg blocks, which persist for over an hour in the water, creating a pungent oil slick which attracts petrels from some miles away.
On the second day of the expedition, the first Fiji Petrel appeared, approaching the chum slick from downwind, slowly zigzagging over the slick, and suddenly changing direction to drop onto a floating morsel.
In all, the expedition team believe they saw eight individuals over eleven days of observations.
"Finding this bird and capturing such images was a fantastic and exhilarating experience," says ornithologist Hadoram Shirihai, who lead the search team.
In 2008, Mr Shirihai also rediscovered the Critically Endangered Beck's Petrel (Pseudobulweria becki) a bird that was also only known from two sightings in the Pacific made in the 1920s.
"To see such a little-known bird at such close range was magical," added fellow expedition member Mr Tony Pym, describing his joy at seeing the Fiji petrel flying over the waves.
More surveys in 2010 are now planned to to locate the breeding area of the Fiji Petrel, says Dick Watling of NatureFiji-MareqetiViti.
"Once we know the location, we can assess what needs to be done to turn around the fortunes of this species," he says.

BBC - Earth News - 'Lost seabird' returns to ocean

The Fiji Petrel Expedition 2008

This year's mission to try and observe the Fiji Petrel at sea unfortunately had to be aborted after three days due to mechanical problems with the boat. Two chumming sessions on the journey to Gau, the island where birds have been grounded in the past, produced four Kermadec Petrels (only the second record for Fiji waters), a White-necked Petrel (though possibly a Vanuatu Petrel), 20+ Tahiti Petrels, four Collared Petrels and one probable, though brief, Providence Petrel. Of special note was a small 'Cookilaria-sized' dark petrel seen by three of the team, which flew under the Kermadec's giving a direct size comparison.

On the second day at sea we chummed some 16 miles southeast of Gau. Two Polynesian Storm-petrels (the first confirmed in the Fiji and Samoa biogeographical region for 132 years) were observed plus two more Kermadecs. Tahiti Petrels numbered about 16 over a three-hour period and two Collared Petrels were distant. Once more, a small dark petrel was seen momentarily, only to fly into the sun's glare.

Following the boat's technical problems the group decided to fly to Taveuni in the Fiji Islands and try for seabirds there (and the endemic landbirds in any spare time). We could charter only a high-speed sports boat and chummed the first day 18 miles offshore and the second day at the Vuna seamount. The highlight was a White-bellied Storm-petrel (a species never reliably confirmed from Fiji waters) on the first day and three Gould's Petrels on the second. Day totals were 50+ Tahiti Petrels, one Collared Petrel on the first day and 30+ Tahiti Petrels on the second - on our return to the quay at dusk we had a gathering of an additional 50+ Tahiti Petrels, waiting to return to their breeding burrows ashore.

Supplementary species seen during sailings were many Red-footed Boobies and Crested Terns, flocks of both Brown and Black Noddies, Lesser Frigatebirds, a couple of Black-naped Terns and a lone Bridled Tern.

We had two cetacean species; a pod of about 10 Pantropical Spotted Dolphins off Viti Levu and a Dwarf Minke Whale, feeding in the chum off Taveuni.

It is evident, from the records above, the real possibilities for groundbreaking research in this marine area and it was most frustrating for us to have to leave the region prematurely. Indeed, for some species of seabirds our research, and discussions aboard - for example, on identification and taxonomic issues - raised many more questions than answers.

Another sailing next year is already in the early planning stages, and most likely will be from mid to late July, with 10 days intended at sea – this time frame we believe the best for success with Fiji Petrel, based on ageing of the available specimens and grounded birds. We shall have the best type of boat for working these waters and have found a new chum mix that works extremely well with the tubenoses. Already Hadoram Shirihai and Dick Watling have confirmed they will again be on the voyage.

We shall announce more over the coming months for those interested in joining us in 2009. Please monitor the seabird newsgroups or contact me direct (Tony_Pym@hotmail.com). Participants will share equally all onboard costs and NatureFiji-MareqetiViti (www.naturefiji.org) will support the expedition. This continuing seabird survey we believe will confirm yet more exciting species in the local seas and provide further insight on the mysterious Fiji Petrel itself.

Some photographs taken on the 2008 expedition

(Thanks to Hadoram Shirihai for the © photos!)

Left - Tahiti Petrel

Above right - White-bellied Storm-petrel

Below left - Gould's Petrel

FijiPetrelExpedition