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An occasion of predation in which pigs destroyed or ate dozens of breeding albatross eggs is suspected to be the cause of the survival of at least one mōlī or Laysan albatross.
Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge on Kauaʻi reported that 64 mōlī eggs had been “crushed or eaten by pigs in Nihokū, as of December 22, 2022. The data was shared on the agency’s Facebook page earlier this month.
Just 4 days later, on December 26, 2022, a Laysan albatross discovered waterlogged and suffering in the waters of Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge on Kaua’i was rescued on December 26, 2022.
Rescuers were to capture the albatross safely and take it to the Kaiakea fire station, where Save Our Shearwaters workers recovered the bird.
Her numbered leg band allowed her to be known as ANP081, an active nester, last noticed incubating an egg at Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge on December 22.
KPNWR showed that ANP081’s nest was one of those that had been preyed upon by a pig and said the predation event was suspected to be the cause of the bird’s sealing problems. feathers.
“It was probably only a matter of minutes or hours before [the albatross] drowned,” said Howie Grene, one of the bird rescuers. its head slightly above the water and its body submerged.
“It’s important that pelagic birds like mōlī are absolutely water resistant before they are released,” said Jacqueline Nelson, rehabilitation manager at Save Our Shearwaters, “otherwise the water can succeed on their skin, making them hypothermic or struggling to fly. “Away. water and foraging.
As this patient is an active nest, time is running out for her to return to the wild as soon as possible, according to the organization.
The body of trained workers performed a thorough washing procedure to remove any contaminants from the plumage of ANP081. He spent another two days at the rehabilitation center, where staff checked his buoyancy and checked that his feathers remained dry. After passing her last waterproofing test and fitness assessments, she was effectively released in Anahola Beach on January 2.
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel are available to assist U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel. The U. S. Department of State, in coordination with Pacific Rim Conservation, has been working to complete the extension of its predator-resistant fence to surround the location of those mōlī nests. The final is expected to be completed in a few months.
Heather Abbey-Tonneson, Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge complex manager, said, “In addition to SOS, our partnerships with Pacific Rim Conservation, Pono Pacific, the State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, the Kauaʻi Endangered Seabird Recovery Project, and American Bird Conservation on our nearly 2-mile predator-resistant perimeter fence will have mōlī and other species on 168 acres.
“While ANP081 has lost its egg and nearly its life due to an invasive predator, we expect it to return next year to its newly protected nesting site for a successful breeding season,” the organization’s leaders said in an SOS statement.
Save Our Shearwaters is a nonprofit organization that operates the only federally and statewide licensed facility for the rehabilitation of premises on Kaua’i. They make do with all the local Hawaiian birds and the Hawaiian graying bat.