Albatross Population Monitoring in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

Photo: Pete Leary

Sites with population monitoring during entire breeding season

• North shore of Oahu• North shore of Kauai• Tern Island, French Frigate Shoals• Laysan Island• Midway Atoll• Kure Atoll

Damage to Tern Island

Field Station

Erosion

Flooding

Storm Surge

Mike Johns

Mike Johns

Midway Atoll Annual Albatross nest count

Midway Albatross count team 2014

Resurgence of Bonin Petrel populations after rat eradication in 1996 has necessitated modification of count techniques as burrows become more prevalent

Photo B. Arrigoni

Hatch year 201422,525

Hatch year 2014412,776 nests,

Laysan Island Albatross Nest Counts till HY 2011

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Laysan Albatross

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Black-footed Albatross

Monitoring Effort Update-HY2014

• Tern Island: Loss of nesting seabirds and infrastructure on Tern Island due to extreme weather event in December 2012. Field station still closed for the foreseeable future.

• Laysan Island: Nest count and demographic plots not conducted due to medical evacuation of crew from the island in October 2012. Field camp still closed due to budget constraints until the foreseeable future.

• Midway Atoll: Full nest count conducted and demographic plots monitored in HY 2014.

Verbesina encelioides eradication projects at Kure Atoll and Midway Atoll funded by NFWF, ABC, Friends of Midway,USFWS, and DOFAW, State of Hawaii yielding spectacular Results.

No Control

Verbesina Control

Photo: Pete Leary

Eastern Island 2014 – Verbesina on the run

Short-tailed Albatross chick hatched January 2014 – Eastern Island Midway

Flickr:http://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwspacific/sets/72157626287199106/with/11873082704/

Tumblr: http://usfwspacific.tumblr.com/post/72881378762/at-last-the-first-video-of-a-brand-new-rare-and

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/USFWSPacific

Front page: http://www.fws.gov/pacific/

News release: http://www.fws.gov/pacific/news/news.cfm?id=2144375308

Links for viewing Short-tailed Albatross photos and video at Midway