Seabird progress in Hawaii

A nature preserve on the island of Molokai in Hawaii now hosts a Wedge-tailed Shearwater colony.

For the first time in decades, wedge-tailed shearwaters are establishing a new colony on Molokai at The Nature Conservancy's Mo‘omomi preserve.

The shearwaters' return, says state wildlife biologist Fern Duvall, is due to the Conservancy's weed and predator control efforts, which are creating a hospitable refuge where the birds can now safely nest and rear their young.

“They're definitely increasing, no doubt about it,” said Ed Misaki, director of the Conservancy's Molokai program. “Back in 1999 when the birds first started arriving, there were three nests. This year we counted 307 active nests.”

Wedge-tailed shearwaters — or ‘ua‘u kani — are large, dark-brown migratory birds with a black-tipped dark-gray bill. The birds live all their lives at sea and come ashore only to breed. Returning to the same nest site each year, wedge-tails nest in shallow sand burrows, one to two meters in length.

Read the entire article (link above) for great details about these seabirds. Here are details about Mo'omomi Preserve.

Photo courtesy of The Molokai Times