Kauaʻi keiki learn about endangered seabird ‘A’o; watch fledglings released to sea

For more than a decade, it has been a rite of passage for fourth graders at Island School on Kauaʻi to learn about the critically endangered seabird ‘A‘o, also known as Newell’s shearwaters.

The students are taught about the remarkable life and behaviors of ‘A‘o, first in the classroom and then at Lydgate Park.

Jaqueline Nelson, senior program manager with Save our Shearwaters, provided final health checks on four fledgling shearwaters before local elected officials on Tuesday released them to begin a 2-year journey out to sea.

“They’re a unique species to work with,” Nelson said. “It’s special that we get to work with these creatures that can live out on open ocean for years at a time and not touch land if they don’t need to.”

Each fall, the first contact with land for hundreds of these seabrids is the reason they end up in the care of Save Our Shearwaters. They literally fall to the ground after being attracted by artificial lights.

“Young birds heading to sea for the first time are often attracted by the nighttime artificial lighting of playing fields, hotels, resorts and streets,” according to the nonprofit American Bird Conservancy. “They become disoriented and circle the lights until they become exhausted and fall to the ground, where they may be injured or killed by cars, cats or dogs.”

All of the main Hawaiian Islands have annual bird fall-out programs, where people are encouraged to bring fallen birds in for check-ups and any necessary treatment.

“They get a full head-to-toe examination,” Nelson said. “If they have something going on we can attempt to treat it. If it’s a normal grounded bird, often the turnaround is quick.”

While Save our Shearwaters staff release birds regularly, the Newell’s shearwater releases observed by the fourth graders are special because students also have learned in their classrooms about the birdsʻ threats and importance from experts with the Kaua‘i Endangered Seabird Recovery Project.

On Tuesday, the recovery project’s coordinator, Dilek Sahin, tested the student’s newfound knowledge which included this one: “When they’re feeding their babies, they go out to sea to get food for 1 to 2 weeks.”

Nelson congratulated the keiki on their answers: “You guys all got those questions right, which makes me very proud. The four birds that I have today were found by the public. So, they could have been found by you guys.”

The hope is the students will become active conservationists throughout their lifetime and share the procedures for rescuing a fallen seabird and getting them to a rehabilitation center with the adults in their lives.

“These endangered seabirds mostly live out of sight up in the mountains,” Sahin said. “They are active at night. It’s important to let people know that they are facing threats. If we have a connection, it will be more possible to protect them, to facilitate the conservation of this species. We need to help of the public and new generations to find and rescue these birds.”