UH Hilo Center for Maunakea Stewardship - Research Library

Light attraction in endangered procellariiform birds: reduction by shielding upward radiation

Author:
Reed, Jonathan R., Sincock, John L., Hailman, Jack P.
Title:
Light attraction in endangered procellariiform birds: reduction by shielding upward radiation
Periodical:
Auk
Year:
1985
Volume:
102
Pages:
377-383
Subject:
Shearwaters Petrels Endangered Species birds Birds protection
Summary:
This document describes how man-made lighting causes heavy mortality in fledgling Hawaiian seabirds such as the threatened Newell's Shearwater (Puffins auricularis newelli), the endangered Dark-rumped Petrel (Pterodroma phaeopygia sandwichensis), and the rare Band-rumped Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma castro). This was recorded on the island of Kauai, in the early 1980s, especially during the autumn months when more than a thousand individuals of these seabirds were found on the ground and in the vicinity of bright lights. It also seemed that this occurred mostly with fledglings that collided with man-made structures as they became disoriented while making their first flights from their mountain nesting colonies to the ocean. Also described is how most of the attraction occurred within 1 - 4 hours after sunset, and how shielding the lights of the largest resorts in an effort to prevent an upward radiation on alternate nights, during two fledging seasons, decreased the seabirds' attraction to the lights by nearly 40 percent. In addition, the full moon, that also dramatically decreased attraction, was a phenomenon that has both theoretical and management implications.
Label:
Birds - Dark-Rumped Petrel
URL:
https://sora.unm.edu/node/24108
Date:
April 1985
Collection:
Periodicals