Vital Sign Monitoring: Hawaiian Petrel

Description & Rational
Birds currently form a significant component of the native terrestrial vertebrate fauna for islands in the PACN. Prior to human colonization, seabirds nested widely and in enormous numbers on all network islands. However, today the group is marked by precipitous declines and extirpations on all inhabited islands. Any extant colonies are remnants in dire need of protection, active monitoring, and management. Both threatened and endangered, as well as common, seabird species are of concern to PACN. The Hawaiian petrel (Pterodroma sandwichensis) is a federally listed endangered species, known or thought to occur at two network parks.

Brief Monitoring Questions & Objectives
Question: What are the long-term trends in colony distribution, colony density, and reproductive (fledgling) success of Hawaiian petrels at Haleakala and Hawai'i Volcanoes National Parks, and how are these affected by predator control?
Objective: Detect landscape level changes in distribution of petrel colonies by sampling suitable nesting habitat at approximate 5 year intervals. Determine long-term trends in density of active nests and annual fledging success of Hawaiian petrels at HAVO and HALE. Where predator control is or will be undertaken by the National Park Service, compare density of active nests and fledging success with areas in which there is no management, or with data collected before management was initiated.

Vital Sign Monitoring Status & Trends
The Hawaiian Petrel Monitoring Protocol is in development and is scheduled to enter into peer review in August 2009.

Products and Related Links:

• Protocol Documents (in development)
• Inventory Reports:
  • Bailey, C. 2009. Seabird inventory at Haleakala National Park, Maui, HI.
  • Swift & Burt-Toland. 2009. Surveys of Procellariiform Seabirds at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, 2001 - 2005.
  • Day & Cooper. 2004. Petrel & shearwater surveys near communication tower near Volcano.

Education and Outreach:

• Seabird Monitoring Resource Brief
• Seabird Monitoring Photo Gallery - Coming Soon!

Contact Information
Principal Investigator
Darcy Hu, National Park Service
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
P.O. Box 44
Hawaii National Park, HI 96718
darcy_hu <at> nps.gov

Dr. David Duffy, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Botany
3190 Maile Way
St. John Hall, #101
Honolulu, HI 96822-2279
dduffy <at> hawaii.edu