Possible breeding colonies of Manx Shearwater on the Island of Hawaiʻi

Author:

Jeffrey, Jack, Kepler, Cameron B., Scott, J. Michael

Title:

Possible breeding colonies of Manx Shearwater on the Island of Hawaiʻi

Periodical:

Elepaio

Year:

1979

Volume:

39

Pages:

115-116

Subject:

Aʻo Hawaiʻi Island description and travel Shearwaters

Summary:

The Manx Shearwater, (Puffinus puffinus newelli), or Aʻo, is thought to have once nested on the islands of Hawaiʻi, Maui, Molokai, Oʻahu, and Kauai. However, it was believed that introduced predators such as the mongoose, had exterminated the birds from these islands except for on the island of Kauai where there are no mongoose and on the island of Niihau about which little is known. Then in 1977, the Aʻo was either sighted, or heard calling, within the dense uluhe rainforested areas of the Hāmākua and Kohala forests such as Waimanu Valley in the Kohala mountains, on a loading crane at the Hilo Coast Processing Plant in Papaikou, on a crane light at the Pepeekeo Mill, in the woods near Kauku Crater, near the Awehi River, and near the Hakalau River. All the sightings involved very small numbers, (as compared with Kauai records), and were made on the windward side of the island of Hawaii during the period when the A'o breed on Kauai. It is also believed that colonies may exist in the steep, muddy, uluhe-covered stream banks, that are located on the windward slopes of Mauna Kea, where much of the ʻōhiʻa forest has died, where the number of pigs are low, and where mongoose, dogs, cats, and rats are rarely seen. However, due to the remoteness of these areas the nesting sites of the Aʻo will likely be difficult to find unless one is provided with clues by those who are familiar with these remote forested areas. Locating these nesting sites may be very important since the mongoose has yet to reach the island of Kauai. This could place the Aʻo of this island under the same stresses that have eliminated the species from most of the colonies that once inhabited the other main Hawaiian islands.

Label:

Birds - General

Date:

1979

Collection:

Periodicals