Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T13:04:50.686Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Land and sea-based observations and first satellite tracking results support a New Ireland breeding site for the Critically Endangered Beck’s Petrel Pseudobulweria beckii

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 May 2019

MATT J. RAYNER ,
KAREN A. BAIRD ,
JEREMY BIRD ,
STEVE CRANWELL ,
ANDRĒ F. RAINE ,
BERNARD MAUL ,
JULY KURI ,
JINGJING ZHANG  and
CHRIS P. GASKIN
MATT J. RAYNER*
Affiliation:
Auckland Museum, Private Bag 92018, Auckland 1141, New Zealand, and School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, 3A Symonds Street, Auckland, PB92019, New Zealand.
KAREN A. BAIRD
Affiliation:
Royal Forest & Bird Protection Society of New Zealand, 205 Victoria Street, Wellington, New Zealand.
JEREMY BIRD
Affiliation:
Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland4072, Australia.
STEVE CRANWELL
Affiliation:
BirdLife International, Pacific Secretariat, 10 MacGregor Road, GPO Box18332, Suva. Fiji.
ANDRĒ F. RAINE
Affiliation:
Kaua’i Endangered Seabird Recovery Project, PO Box 81, Hanapepe96716, HI, USA.
BERNARD MAUL
Affiliation:
Wildlife Conservation Society. Kavieng, New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea.
JULY KURI
Affiliation:
Wildlife Conservation Society. Kavieng, New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea.
JINGJING ZHANG
Affiliation:
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Wellington, New Zealand.
CHRIS P. GASKIN
Affiliation:
Northern New Zealand Seabird Charitable Trust, 400 Leigh Road, RD5, Warkworth0985, New Zealand.
*
*Author for correspondence; e-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The Beck’s Petrel Pseudobulweria beckii is a ‘Critically Endangered’ seabird whose breeding sites remain unknown. Historic observations suggest the species’ distribution is concentrated in the Bismarck Archipelago and particularly southern New Ireland. Over the course of two research expeditions in 2016 and 2017 we used on-land and at-sea observations, local interviews and satellite telemetry to understand the distribution of the species, its at-sea movements and potential breeding locations. Land-based and at-sea observations indicated that the area of Silur Bay in southern New Ireland was a significant site for Beck’s Petrel with numbers of birds increasing near shore prior to dusk and birds observed in spotlights over land. A local population is estimated to be in the low thousands. In 2017 a single Beck’s was captured at sea, fitted with a satellite transmitter and tracked for eight months. This bird maintained a core distribution off the south-east coast of New Ireland and north of Bougainville for 122 days. During the tracking period, the bird was located over land at night seven times; predominantly over southern New Ireland, where the signal was also lost for extended periods suggesting occupancy of an underground burrow. In August the bird migrated 1,400 km to a core pelagic habitat north of West Papua before the signal was eventually lost. Our combination of land- and sea-based observations and analysis of behaviour from satellite tracking supports the conclusion that a breeding site for Beck’s Petrel lies in the inland mountains of southern New Ireland and most likely in the high-altitude zone (> 2000 m) of the Hans Meyer Range. Further investigations are required to determine the exact location of breeding colonies in the mountains of southern New Ireland and the importance of a potential west Papuan non-breeding pelagic habitat for the species.

Type
Research Article
Information
Bird Conservation International , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , March 2020 , pp. 58 - 74
Copyright
Copyright © BirdLife International 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, M. J. (2001) A new method for non-parametric multivariate analysis of variance. Austral Ecol . 26: 32–46.Google Scholar
Ballance, L. T., Pitman, R. L. and Fiedler, P. C. (2006) Oceanographic influences on seabirds and cetaceans of the eastern tropical Pacific: A review. Progr. Oceanogr. 69: 360–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beehler, B. and Alonso, L. E. (2001) Southern New Ireland, Papua New Guinea: A biodiversity assessment. RAP Bull. Biol. Assess. 21: 1–101.Google Scholar
Bird, J. P. (2012) Targeted searches to identify nesting grounds of Beck’s Petrel Pseudobulweria becki. Notornis 59: 189–193.Google Scholar
Bird, J. P., Carlile, N. and Miller, M. G. R. (2014) A review of records and research actions for the Critically Endangered Beck’s Petrel Pseudobulweria becki. Bird Conserv. Internatn. 24: 287–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BirdLife International (2016) Pseudobulweria becki. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22697913A93646628. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22697913A93646628.en. Downloaded on 26 August 2018.Google Scholar
Brooke, M. D. L. (2004) Albatrosses and petrels across the world, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Brooke, M. d. L., Hanley, S. and Laughlin, S. B. (1999) The scaling of eye size with body mass in birds. Proc. Roy. Soc. London. Ser. B: Biol. Sci. 266: 405–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Croxall, J. P., Butchart, S. H. M., Lascalles, B., Stattersfield, A. J., Sullivan, B., Symes, A. and Taylor, P. (2012) Seabird conservation status, threats and priority actions: a global assessment. Bird Conserv. Internatn. 22: 1–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fridolfsson, A. K. and Ellegren, H. (1999) A simple and universal method for molecular sexing of non-ratite birds. J. Avian Biol. 30: 116–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gummer, H., Taylor, G., Wilson, K. J. and Rayner, M. J. (2015) Recovery of the endangered Chatham petrel (Pterodroma axillaris): a review of conservation management techniques from 1990 to 2010. Global Ecol. Conserv. 3: 310–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Imber, M. J. (1973) The food of grey-faced petrels (Pterodroma macroptera gouldi (Hutton)), with special reference to diurnal vertical migration of their prey. J. Anim. Ecol. 42: 645–662.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Imber, M. J. (1996) The food of Cook’s petrel Pterodroma cookii during its breeding season on Little Barrier Island, New Zealand. Emu 96: 189–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keitt, B. S., Tershy, B. R. and Croll, D. A. (2004) Nocturnal behavior reduces predation pressure on black-vented shearwaters Puffinus opisthomelas. Mar. Ornithol. 32: 173–178.Google Scholar
Lehodey, P., Bertignac, M., Hampton, J., Lewis, A. and Picaut, J. (1997) El Niño Southern Oscillation and tuna in the western Pacific. Nature 389: 715.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marchant, S. and Higgins, P. J. (1990) Handbook of Australasian, Antarctic and New Zealand birds. Volume 1 Ratites to Petrels, Melbourne: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
McArdle, B. H. and Anderson, M. J. (2001) Fitting multivariate models to community data: a comment on distance-based redundancy analysis. Ecology 82: 290–297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDuie, F., Weeks, S., Miller, M. and Congdon, B. (2015) Breeding tropical shearwaters use distant foraging sites when self-provisioning. Mar. Ornithol. 43: 123–129.Google Scholar
McSorley, C. A., Wilson, L. J., Dunn, T. E., Gray, C., Dean, B. J., Webb, A. and Reid, J. B. (2008) Manx shearwater Puffinus puffinus evening rafting behaviour around colonies on Skomer, Rum and Bardsey: its spatial extent and implications for recommending seaward boundary extensions to existing colony Special Protection Areas in the UK. Peterborough, UK: Joint Nature Conservation Commission. (JNCC Report No. 406).Google Scholar
Murphy, R. C. (1929) Birds collected during the whitney south sea expedition. Am. Mus. Novit. 370: 1–17.Google Scholar
Murphy, R. C. and Pennoyer, J. M. (1952) Larger petrels of the genus Pterodroma. Am. Mus. Novit. 1580: 1–43.Google Scholar
Raine, A., Raine, H., Meirinho, A. and Borg, J. J. (2010) Rafting behaviour of Yelkouan Shearwater Puffinus yelkouan breeding at Rdum tal-Madonna. Malta. Il-Merill 32: 26–30.Google Scholar
Raine, A. F., Holmes, N. D., Travers, M., Cooper, B. A. and Day, R. H. (2017) Declining population trends of Hawaiian petrel and Newell’s shearwater on the island of Kaua‘i, Hawaii, USA. The Condor 119: 405–415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rayner, M. J., Carlile, N., Priddel, D., Bretagnolle, V., Miller, M. G. R., Phillips, R. A., Ranjard, L., Bury, S. J. and Torres, L. G. (2016) Niche partitioning by three Pterodroma petrel species during non-breeding in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Mar. Ecol. Progr. Ser. 549: 217–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rayner, M. J., Gaskin, C. P., Fitzgerald, N. B., Baird, K. A., Berg, M. M., Boyle, D., Joyce, L., Landers, T. J., Loh, G. G., Maturin, S., Perrimen, L., Scofield, R. P., Simm, J., Southey, I., Taylor, G. A., Tennyson, A. J. D., Robertson, B. C., Young, M., Walle, R. and Ismar, S. M. H. (2015) Using miniaturized radiotelemetry to discover the breeding grounds of the endangered New Zealand storm petrel Fregetta maoriana. Ibis 157: 754–766.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rayner, M. J., Gaskin, C. P., Stephenson, B. M., Fitzgerald, N. B., Landers, T. J., Robertson, B. C., Scofield, P. R., Ismar, S. M. H. and Imber, M. J. (2013) Brood patch observations indicate likely breeding provenance and timetable in New Zealand storm petrel (Pealeornis maoriana) Mar. Ornithol. 41: 107–111.Google Scholar
Rayner, M. J., Hauber, M. E. and Clout, M. N. (2007) Breeding habitat of the Cook’s Petrel (Pterodroma cookii) on Little Barrier Island (Hauturu): implications for the conservation of a New Zealand endemic. Emu 107: 59–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rayner, M. J., Hauber, M. E., Clout, M. N., Seldon, D. S., Van Dijken, S., Bury, S. and Phillips, R. A. (2008) Foraging ecology of the Cook’s petrel Pterodroma cookii during the austral breeding season: a comparison of its two populations. Mar. Ecol. Progr. Ser. 370: 271–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rayner, M. J., Hauber, M. E., Steeves, T. E., Lawrence, H. A., Thompson, D. R., Sagar, P. M., Bury, S. J., Landers, T. J., Phillips, R. A., Ranjard, L. and Shaffer, S. A. (2011) Contemporary and historic separation of transhemispheric migration between two genetically distinct seabird populations. Nat. Communic. 2: 332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rayner, M. J., Taylor, G., Gummer, H., Phillips, R. A., Sagar, P. M., Shaffer, S. A. and Thompson, D. R. (2012) Breeding cycle, year round distribution and activity patterns of the endangered Chatham petrel (Pterodroma axillaris). Emu 112: 107–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rayner, M. J., Taylor, G. A., Gaskin, C. P. and Dunphy, B. J. (2017) Seasonal activity and unpredicted polar front migration of northern New Zealand common diving petrels (Pelecanoides urinatrix). Emu - Austral Ornithol. 117: 1–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shaffer, S. A., Tremblay, Y., Weimerskirch, H., Scott, D., Thompson, D. R., Sagar, P. M., Moller, H., Taylor, G. A., Foley, D. G., Block, B. A. and Costa, D. P. (2006) Migratory shearwaters integrate oceanic resources across the Pacific Ocean in an endless summer. Proc. Natl. Ac. Sci. USA 103: 12799–12802.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shirihai, H. (2008) Rediscovery of Beck’s petrel Pseudobulweria becki, and other observations of tubenoses from the Bismarck archipelago, Papua New Guinea. Bull. Brit. Ornithol. Club 128L 3–16.Google Scholar
Spear, L. B., Ainley, D. G. and Walker, M. M. (2007) Foraging dynamics of seabirds in the eastern tropical pacific ocean. Stud. Avian Biol. 35: 1–50.Google Scholar
Spear, L. B., Ballance, L. T. and Ainley, D. G. (2001) Response of seabirds to thermal boundaries in the tropical Pacific: the thermocline versus the Equatorial Front. Mar. Ecol. Progr. Ser. 219: 275–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tarroux, A., Berteaux, D. and Bêty, J. (2010) Northern nomads: ability for extensive movements in adult arctic foxes. Polar Biol . 33: 1021–1026.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tennyson, A. J. D., Miskelly, C. M. and Totterman, S. L. (2012) Observations of collared petrels (Pterodroma brevipes) on Vanua Lava, Vanuatu, and a review of the species’ breeding distribution. Notornis 59: 39–48.Google Scholar
Thaxter, C. B., Ross-Smith, V. H., Clark, J. A., Clark, N. A., Conway, G. J., Marsh, M., Leat, E. H. K. and Burton, N. H. K. (2014) A trial of three harness attachment methods and their suitability for long-term use on lesser black-backed gulls and great skuas. Ringing & Migration 29: 65–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Villard, P., Dano, S. and Bretagnolle, V. (2006) Morphometrics and the breeding biology of the Tahiti Petrel Pseudobulweria rostrata. Ibis 148: 285–291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warham, J. (1990) The petrels their ecology and breeding systems, London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Yamamoto, T., Takahashi, A., Katsumata, N., Sato, K. and Trathan, P. (2010) At-sea distribution and behavior of streaked shearwaters (Calonectris leucomelas) during the nonbreeding period. The Auk 127: 871–881.CrossRefGoogle Scholar