The seabird contingent of the Potvin lab has had a great couple of days at the Pacific Seabird Conference in Auckland - lots of learning, networking and reconnecting! Thank you to all the organisers for a fantastic conference! #pacificseabirds #oceaniaseabirds
This is a picture of my brain leaking out of my ears after learning too much at #OceaniaSeabirds. But I'm always interested in cool bird stories!
And @jmrbrock.bsky.social lurking there wants seabird dandruff samples from all over the Pacific. Or just someone to talk to about ferns.
40% of the world’s black noddy population is based on the Capricornia Cays in the southern Great Barrier Reef. Zerra Egerton is collecting data on nutritional health and immune function to develop health baselines to better understand what may be contributing to regular die-offs. #OceaniaSeabirds
Thomas Bouyard discusses impacts of human disturbance on #seabirds on New Caledonia’s coral islands, where tourism looks set to increase. #OceaniaSeabirds
Lauren Roman describes plastic ingestion by #seabirds. While most ingestion detected is of a small number of small items, there are some extreme cases - often affecting chicks or juveniles. #OceaniaSeabirds
Ariel Micaiah Heswall discusses the issue of light pollution resulting in #seabirds grounding in cities. Seabirds are especially vulnerable as many species are nocturnal, and fledglings especially may have poor visual acuity. #OceaniaSeabirds
Marc Travers has been quantifying the impacts of powerline collisions by birds on Kaua’i, Hawai’i. Huge numbers of birds hit and are killed in collisions with wires in their airspace - and this is a common story for #seabirds everywhere. #OceaniaSeabirds
Frigatebirds are an important spiritual and cultural species right across the Pacific, says Randy Thaman, providing a huge array of examples from literature, art, and more. #OceaniaSeabirds
Renee Hill-Lewenilovo shares her work tracking Traditional Ecological Knowledge relating to #seabirds across the Pacific. Using an Obsidian database she tracks connections across literature & other resources, for understanding of ecological connectivity and integration into policy. #OceaniaSeabirds
Yuna Kim describes efforts by @birdlifeoz.bsky.social to help the Worimi people of Port Stephens reconnect with Gould’s Petrel, celebrating conservation action while strengthening cultural ties to Country. #OceaniaSeabirds
Ioane Etuale is surveying communities in Samoa, where he finds the older generations have better knowledge of birds. The Samoan origin story is based around a bird atua, Tuli, and there are many stories about birds that are used to understand the weather and fishing. #OceaniaSeabirds
As young people move away from their homes, there is becoming a break in the passing down of traditional knowledge, says John Lamaris. #TEK is used to inform sustainable harvesting and conservation in Papua New Guinea & across Oceania. #OceaniaSeabirds
Ramari Oliphant Stewart sets the scene for the next session of #OceaniaSeabirds - kōrero on culture, language, and traditional knowledge and practice relating to #seabirds.
Tobby Jinga reports on #seabird #conservation from Papua New Guinea, where seabirds are important for subsistence fisheries. Plans are developing for a national plan of action for seabirds. #OceaniaSeabirds
Tiale Panapa reports that a key goal for #seabird #conservation in Tuvalu is to expand protected areas and create a more joined-up approach. #OceaniaSeabirds
Anna Vallery from the US Fish & Wildlife Service updates us on the #seabirds protected as part of the 4 Marine National Monuments encompassing some very remote atolls in the Pacific. These include strongholds of Laysan and Black-footed albatrosses. #OceaniaSeabirds
Rats are the primary threat to the 5 native #seabirds of Tonga, Siosina Katoa shares. Eradication efforts are underway (or completed!) using aerial baiting methods across 10 islands. #OceaniaSeabirds
Serah Devi shares the importance of #seabirds to the Solomon Islands, from their role in food webs to ecotourism. One key species is the Solomon Island sea eagle, which is also an important clan totem. #OceaniaSeabirds #PacificSeabirds
Francine Elisaia shares the importance of #seabirds in Samoa, where they appear in traditional proverbs, stories, cultural practices, & voyaging. Monitoring is well aligned with Samoa’s long term national strategy for #biodiversity & knowledge sharing is key to community engagement. #OceaniaSeabirds
Heather Ketebengang describes the birdlife of Palau - located along the East Asian Australasian Flyway, there are potentially many more vagrants and migratory species showing up. #OceaniaSeabirds
Matthieu Mathivet shares news from Bird Conservation New Caledonia, a newly established NGO. With 25 #seabirds breeding in New Caledonia, there’s lots to be done. #OceaniaSeabirds
Spanning over 5mill km2, there’s a lot of scope for #seabird #conservation in French Polynesia. Fanny Martre & Thomas Ghestemme describe some of the work for rat eradication, acoustic monitoring, and community engagement. #OceaniaSeabirds #PacificSeabirds
Karen Baird kicks off #OceaniaSeabirds with updates on the new #Seabird Action Plan from SPREP. library.sprep.org/sites/defaul...
The #OceaniaSeabirds symposium marks the launch of two new Pacific #seabird resources - the Pacific Seabird Colony Database and the Pacific Seabirds Survey & Monitoring Manual.
pacific-data.sprep.org/dataset/paci...
library.sprep.org/sites/defaul...
