Chapter I Intro & Objectives - SPREP

PHOENIX ISLANDS PROTECTED AREA MANAGEMENT PLAN
Chapter III. Background, 3. Terrestrial Resources
Draft 1 March 2007
Brown booby 30 12 100-120
White tern 20 4 40+ 1,000 1,200-
1,500
Audobon’s shearwater 3
Ruddy turnstone 60-80 30
Golden plover 8 25 8 10
Bristle-thighed curlew 1
Wandering tattler 12 4 5
White-tailed tropicbird 2
Laysan albatross 1
*counts for specific areas of the island, see Kepler (2000) for exact locations.
Anderson (2002) noted that no pre-historic faunal extinctions have been recorded yet for the
Phoenix Islands.
Neilson (2002) noted that a bird species may be at different stages of the breeding cycle
depending on which island it was on. During the June/July 2002 expedition, Sterna lunata on
Abariringa (Kanton) and Rawaki were incubating eggs, while on Orona, nests contained large
eggs.
In 2002, birds were identified and counted in Abariringa, Birnie, Manra, McKean,
Nikumaroro, Orona, and Rawaki (Bukaireiti and Rabaua 2002). Results of these counts are
provided in Table III-3.21.
Table III-3.21. Birds observed in the Phoenix Islands in 2002
(source: Bukaireiti and Rabaua 2002).
species
Abariringa Birnie Manra McKean Nikumaroro Orona Rawaki
(Canton)*
(Phoenix)
Great frigatebird 2 260 1 105
Lesser frigatebird 3,500
Grey back tern 10 115
White tern 2 26 20 50 110 100 100
Sooty tern 5 1,100 100,000+ 750,100
Brown booby 125 30 105 37
Masked booby 1 1,509 22 305 50 2080
Red footed booby 1257 50 21 11
Brown noddy 3,101 2 60 2,023 111 1500 1,000
Black noddy 3 22 1 201
Blue grey noddy 100
Red-tailed
tropicbrid
3 9 1
Golden plover 1
Bristle thigh curlew 1 1 1 30
Christmas
shearwater
60
Audubon
shearwater
1
71