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A group of mōlī chicks at their colony on the north shore. |
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It’s fledging season for mōlī / Laysan Albatross! Roughly five months since hatching, this year’s mōlī chicks are dropping the last of their downy feathers and getting ready to fly out to sea for the first time. Fledglings take off between mid-June and early August, with most leaving in July. As mōlī chicks near fledging time, the frequency at which their parents feed them decreases, which may in part motivate them to fly out to sea. As a pelagic seabird, once these mōlī leave the colony they can remain at sea for several years at a time. Most fledglings won’t return to their breeding colony until they are three years old and won’t begin breeding until they are eight or nine years old! These sub-adults will practice their mating dances and tend to spend time around newly hatched chicks. Oftentimes “adult” mōlī seen around chicks early in the season are actually just curious sub-adults. |
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Fia and Bronwyn (DOFAW) banding a mōlī chick. |
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You may know that prior to release, each bird in SOS’s care receives a metal federal band with a unique number for identification. However, SOS isn’t the only one banding birds on island. Each year The Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) under the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) bands hatch-year mōlī before they fledge. The unique band numbers allows better monitoring of various colonies to keep track of individual, mating pairs, and even family lineages! This year our Wildlife Rehabilitation Technicians were able to join DOFAW to help with banding. DOFAW visits the colonies, which on Kauai are mostly found on the north shore, and bands every chick. Our technicians helped record band information, handle mōlī as they were banded, and banded a few themselves. Our technicians were able to help band roughly 35 chicks each! Mahalo to DOFAW for letting us tag along and help our with this year's mōlī banding!
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ANP120 a couple of weeks after intake. |
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This koa’e kea / White-tailed Tropicbird was brought to SOS May 2nd after being found alone along a walking trail, away from his/her colony. Upon intake, she was cold and lethargic, but otherwise unharmed. After her intake exam, she was given fluids and placed in an incubator. Within a couple days she had already perked up. After about a week she was stable and able to move out of the incubator. Admitted at such a young age and growing fast, we had to feed this bird four times a day the first couple weeks in care. After some growing, she was able to handle a larger quantity of food at one time and has moved to only two feeds a day.- but that hasn’t deterred her from being vocal ALL day. She is now over 7x her intake weight and very feisty. Just a few more weeks and she will be ready for release! |
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Note the slight difference in bills between the juvenile koa'e 'ula on the left and koa'e kea on the right. |
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Here at SOS we also take care of koa’e ‘ula / Red-tailed Tropicbirds. When they are young chicks it can be hard to distinguish a koa’e ‘ula from a koa’e kea. One of their distinguishing characteristics is their bill. As a chick grows, a koa’e kea’s bill will lighten from a dark gray to light gray, whereas the bill of a koe’a ‘ula will remain a darker gray. Full-grown koa’e kea and koa’e ‘ula are much easier to differentiate- namely by their white or red tailfeather. Additionally, koa’e ‘ula are larger and have fewer black markings than their koa’e kea counterparts. |
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Last season's Avian Technicians working on banding practice. |
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While fallout season may seem a ways away, we are already preparing at SOS. Earlier this month we posted our seasonal Avian Technician applications online. Each fallout season we add four additional members to our team to help with the increase in ‘ua‘u kani / Wedge-tailed Shearwater and ‘a‘o / Newell’s Shearwater admissions. These technicians will join the team early September for training on handling, banding, data, cleaning, and much more.
While we often focus on shearwater fledglings leaving island, it's also important keep note of when they arrive back. ‘Ua‘u kani come back to island at the end of February and early March, while ‘a‘o don’t arrive back until early April. Already on island, this year’s shearwaters have begun laying their eggs! ‘Ua‘u kani generally lay their eggs mid-June. However, ‘a‘o can lay their eggs anywhere from late May to early June. We have already admitted several ‘ua‘u kani and ‘a‘o this season. In fact, we only went 38 days between the last shearwater patient in care at SOS from 2022’s fallout season and the first returning shearwater to be admitted this year! With shearwaters back on island, be careful to keep dogs on leash and be cognizant of light usage. And don’t forget to keep an eye on the moon cycle. New moons are when birds are most vulnerable to fallout, due to the lower amount of light provided by the moon. |
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Coral Reef Protection
The Nature Conservancy has bought an insurance policy for Hawai‘i’s coral reefs! A distinctive approach to conservation, this policy will help to fund and facilitate coral reef repair in the wake of natural disasters.
‘Ua‘u / Hawaiian Petrels at Nihoku
Pacific Rim Conservation announced June 21st that there are two ‘ua‘u nests with eggs at Nihoku, a protected habitat at Kilauea National Wildlife Refuge, and two more pairs that look like they may lay eggs. This is great news for one of Hawai‘i’s endangered species! |
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SOS is an Unincorporated Nonprofit Association and fiscally sponsored by the Hawai'i Wildlife Center, a 501(c)(3) tax exempt, non-profit organization.
As the only Federal and State permitted wildlife facility on Kaua‘i, Save Our Shearwaters provides life-saving care to Hawai'i’s native birds in need. When you donate, you help us continue to rescue, rehabilitate, and release native wildlife. Mahalo nui loa from all of us at SOS (our feathered friends included)!
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