About This Project

The Leach's Storm-Petrel is listed as a Species of Special Concern in Maine, and much of its ecology remains a mystery. The bulk of the North Atlantic population breeds in Newfoundland, where nest attendance has plummeted in recent years. The most recent population estimates for the Gulf of Maine are over 20 years old, and we have no information on the population trend. A repeat census will provide critical information on the conservation status of this shy little seabird.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Troubling declines in population estimates, adult survival, and burrow occupancy have been observed in Leach's Storm-Petrel colonies within their core breeding range in Newfoundland, raising serious questions on their current conservation status.

Storm-petrels are small dark seabirds that feed on plankton and small fishes out over the continental shelf edge, far from land. During breeding, they dig burrows or nest in deep crevices among boulders on remote coastal islands, which they only visit under the cover of darkness. All of these attributes make them difficult to study, so we know relatively little about their ecology. They are also notoriously difficult to census, which is why we have so little data on their population size and trends.

What is the significance of this project?

A survey of storm-petrels breeding at the two largest colonies in the Gulf of Maine (Great Duck Island and Little Duck Island) was carried out in 1995 by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, which provided a population estimate for the region. We know nothing about what has happened to this population over the intervening decades (the same period in which things have really changed in Newfoundland colonies).

Establishing the population trend for Leach's Storm-Petrels in the Gulf of Maine, at the southern edge of their breeding range, is a priority for federal and state management agencies looking to assess their current conservation status.

What are the goals of the project?

In this project, we will revisit the Little Duck Island colony (with the express permission of the landowners, the National Audubon Society) and repeat the survey, following similar methods to the 1995 survey. In doing so, we will provide the first information on the current population trend of Leach's Storm-Petrels breeding in the Gulf of Maine.

Surveying will take place during the breeding season in 2017. The colony island will be divided by parallel transects, running north-south. Burrows will then be counted in circular plots placed at intervals along the transect. In a separate plot, nests will be monitored for activity by placing grasses over burrow entrances and examining them for disturbance over following few days, providing an estimate of burrow occupancy.