Hawaiian Petrels travel thousands of miles just to feed their chicks, according to a new study conducted by the Kauai Endangered Seabird Recovery Project and US Geological Survey.

Researchers attached solar-powered satellite tags to the backs of five Hawaiian Petrels nesting in the Hono o Na Pali Natural Area Reserve System on Kauai. The satellite results show that on their longer trips the birds traveled more than 4,600 miles to an area of ocean south of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. The trips sometimes lasted weeks. 

The study was conducted to assist recovery activities for the endangered birds which are confined to remote areas on Kauai, Maui, the Big Island and Lanai.

From a DLNR press release: 

“This kind of technology provides us with information on which areas of the ocean are important for petrels breeding on Kaua‘i, which is a critical piece of the puzzle for their conservation,” says Dr. André Raine, KESRP coordinator.  “Their journeys to find food for their chicks are truly mind-boggling – one bird flew more than 53,000 km during a three month period as it traveled to and from its burrow in the mountains of Kaua‘i.  That’s a distance far larger than the circumference of the Earth!” 

The remaining number of Hawaiian Petrels is estimated at around 4,500 breeding pairs.  On Kaua‘i, as with most of its range, the birds face a wide range of threats including being eaten by introduced predators (such as cats, rats and pigs), habitat change from invasive plants, collisions with power lines, and grounding by artificial lights.  Additional threats at sea are less well known, making this satellite tracking study vital to the overall conservation of the species.   

The work on Kaua‘i, which was partly funded by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, is one facet of a multi-species, multi-island study being undertaken by Dr. Josh Adams of the US Geological Survey’s Western Ecological Research Center along with a team of Hawaiian-based collaborators. 

“This study tells us that petrels from Kaua‘i perform extreme, long-distance foraging trips to find food for their chicks,” said Dr. Adams, “Each petrel chick is therefore the result of an annual investment of 100s of thousands of kilometers of work at sea by its parents.  To know that these birds utilize such an enormous area of the Pacific Ocean gives us context and perspective on the scales involved when we talk about marine resource planning, conservation and changes in our ocean ecosystem.” 

Photo: Hawaiian Petrel (DLNR)

— Sophie Cocke