Every year, hundreds of recently fledged Atlantic Puffins Fratercula arctica are found stranded in communities and industrial sites bordering colonies in the Witless Bay Seabird Ecological Reserve (WBSER), located in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, which hosts ~ 300,000 pairs. Coordinated efforts involving volunteers occur nightly during the puffin’s fledging season (August - early September) to rescue stranded birds and return them back to the ocean. In addition to saving lives and raising awareness on the impacts of light pollution, the Puffin and Petrel Patrol (PPP) also provides the opportunity to collect information on environmental conditions leading to strandings and on the health of the local breeding puffin population. Between 2011 and 2020, 3845 puffins were found during nightly searches, with the fewest birds found around the full moon. Years in which the highest number of stranded birds were found were the same years in which puffins weighed the most. These results suggest that information collected through the PPP can be used to monitor in a non-intrusive way the health of the local breeding population. This study also examined what proportion of puffins fledging from the breeding colonies in the WBSER are found stranded and was estimated at < 0.2%. Although > 300,000 of pairs of Leach’s Storm-Petrels Oceanodroma leucorhoa also breed in the WBSER, this species was rarely found in bordering communities. Rather, stranded birds were observed along the coast of Conception Bay, at minimal distances of 25 km inland from the WBSER. Stranding events during the species’ fledging period (September – November) were observed at industrial sites and associated with lower moon visibility and nights with northerly winds, suggesting that recently fledged storm-petrels originated from the Baccalieu Island Seabird Ecological Reserve, which hosts the largest colony in the world. This study highlights the need for stronger mitigative measures to minimize light emittance along coastlines bordering important breeding colonies with emphasis on industrial sites. More info at: Wilhelm et al. 2021. Effects of land-based light pollution on two species of burrow-nesting seabirds in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Avian Conservation and Ecology.
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October 2023
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