Nando, Tisna

Wardill, Jim C

English

KUKILA

2000 Short Communications 151 CONCENTRATIONS OF WINTERING STREAKED SHEARWATERS OFF THENORTHERN COAST OF WEST PAPUAby Jim C Wardill & Tisna Nando (Received 20 April 2000) On 30 December 1999. we observed large numbers of Streaked Shearwaters Calonectris leucomelas off the north coast of the Bird's Head peninsula, West Papua. The observations were made from the large passenger fury K. M Dobon3olo as it cruised 2 3 km off share on its west to cast passage 0 0 0 0from Sorong (0 54'S; 131 16'E) to Manokwari (0 56”S; 134 3'E), between 07hr30 and  11hr30. Almost all birds passed the ship in a westerly direction both those passing 1 2 kin further out to sea and those being put off the sea by the ship itself. Repeated count gave an avenge of 100 birds passing each Me of tie boat every three minutes, leading us to arrive at a rough estimate of 16,000 birds in the period of observation. Approximately 30% of birds were on the sea in rafts of up to 400 individuals. These observations appear to represent the highest numbers of Streaked Shearwaters recorded in Indonesian waters to date. Other seabirds; were seen with the shearwaters during the sum time period including two Pomarine Jaegers Stercorarius pomarinus, nine un identified Skuas Stercorarius sp., 26 Brown Boobies Sula leucogaster, a single Tahiti Petrel Pterodroma rostrata and a single un identified small Shearwater Puffinus sp. Interestingly, a return cast to west journey from Manokwari to Sarong through the same waters on 19 January 2000 yielded no mare dun 50 Streaked Shearwaters in the same time period. It has long been assumed that the focal point of the Streaked Shearwater's wintering grounds lies off the north coast of New Guinea, in the region of origin of the equatorial counter current (Bourne in White & Bruce 1986). Morzer Brityns (1965) recorded similar numbers each day in autumn 1960 0along the 7 N line north of New Guinea (approximately 850 km to the north of the coast). The presence of large numbers of shearwaters on 30 December 1999, but their absence from the same waters 20 days later, suggest that the large groups of wintering birds roam, the seas off north New Guinea, occasionally straying into Indonesian waters off the province of West Papua. The reasons for these movements are not known, but at seems unlikely that they relate to migratory movements in this particularly case, as the dates of observation fad in the middle of the northern winter. It is more likely that they relate to changing distribution of food sources, possibly in connection with cold water currents. References Morzer Bruyns. W. F. J. 1965. Birds seen during west to cast trans Pacific crossing along the equatorial 0counter current around Latitude 7 N in the autumn of 1960. Sea Swallow 17; 57 66. White, C. M. N. and Bruce, M. D. 1986. The Birds of Wallacea (Sulawesi, The Moluccas and Lesser Sunda Islands) London: British Ornithologists' Union (Checklist No. 7). 

Concentrations of wintering Streaked Shearwaters off the northern coast of West Papua

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Concentrations of wintering Streaked Shearwaters off the northern coast of West Papua

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