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Our Ecological Restoration Projects
Red Tailed Tropic Bird Monitoring

Red Tailed Tropic Birds (Phaethon rubricauda) also known as Koa'e'ula to the ancient Hawaiians are medium sized seabirds that are famous for their long red tail feathers that give them their name. They are found mostly in the tropical latitudes of the Pacific and Indian oceans where they nest on islands that lack mammalian predators such as rats and cats. They lay one egg per year in small caves on sea cliffs and feed their chicks a variety of fish and squid that are caught at sea. Unfortunately, their populations have declined dramatically in the last 100 years for several reasons. Eighteenth-century European voyagers found the tail feathers were prized within the Polynesian societies they encountered. They were worn by high ranking men and used in important religious ceremonies. In addition to the decimation of adults for their tail feathers, chicks and eggs were also ravaged by the introduction of predators which easily destroyed their ground nests.

On Oahu and many of the other main Hawaiian Islands, Red Tailed Tropic birds have not attempted nesting for close to a century due to the threats described above. However, in the last five years a small colony of Red Tailed Tropic Birds have returned to Oahu's South shore. Oahu Nature Tours has adopted this new colony of Tropic Birds in order to help conserve them. With the help of several of our guides who are graduate students in zoology, we have monitored the colony once a month in order to track chick growth, survival and help eradicate predators. In 2003 seven nests were found and six chicks survived to fledge (leave the nest). In 2004 ten nests were found and we expect all ten chicks to survive. We hope that through our continued efforts that this colony will continue to return and to grow.


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Other projects - Makapu'u Beach Native Coastal Plant Preserve | Adopt a Highway | Nuuanu Stream Habitat Protection

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Phone: 808-924-2473 Fax: 808-924-5395
General E-mail: natureguide@oahunaturetours.com
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