Seabird Tracking

MNSRP (Maui Nui Seabird Recovery Project) participates in collaborative tracking studies using satellite, Geo-locator and GPS tags to answer questions about at-sea seabird behavior. USGS seabird ecologist, Dr. Josh Adams, has provided leadership and participation in all of these studies.

Hawaiian Petrels

In collaboration with USGS, MNSRP deployed solar powered satellite tags on Hawaiian petrels in 2006 & 2007 on both Lāna‛i and Maui. These tags provided almost real time data about the birds’ locations. Birds from both islands flew around the North Pacific Ocean with longest trips being 12,000 km and 20 days before returning to feed their chicks.

MNSRP used geo-locators tags to describe the at-sea behavior of Hawaiian Petrels from the island of Lāna‛i that were raising chicks. The results showed that individual birds alternate between short, nearby foraging trips, and long distance trips around the North Pacific while feeding chicks.

Wedge-tailed Shearwaters

In a study funded in part by the Bureau of Oceans Energy Management (BOEM), there is a collaborative effort to understand seasonal variability in at-sea behaviors and their relationship to chick growth of various seabird species throughout the Hawaiian Islands.
MNSRP participates in this study by deploying and recovering GPS tags on Wedge-tailed shearwaters at colonies in Maui Nui.

For more information about this study, please click here.