Chapter I Intro & Objectives - SPREP

PHOENIX ISLANDS PROTECTED AREA MANAGEMENT PLAN
Chapter III. Background, 3. Terrestrial Resources
Draft 1 March 2007
Fry (1966) reported that Standford University operated a two-masted schooner, Te Vega, that
conducted surveys in September 1965 to Samoa, Tonga, Tokealau, and Abariringa (Canton)
in the Phoenix Islands. No details of the birds observed on Abariringa (Canton) were
provided.
Clapp and Sibley (1967) reported new records of bird species for Abariringa (Canton),
Birnie, Enderbury, Manra (Sydney), McKean, Nikumaroro (Gardner), and Rawaki (Phoenix)
(see Table III-3.18 above).
Sibley and Clapp (1967) reported that specimens of the lesser frigatebird, Fregata ariel, had
been collected from Enderbury, Orona (Hull), and Abariringa (Canton).
Amerson (1968) lists the bird hosts for the tick, Ornithoros capensis and the O. capensis
group in Abariringa (Canton) (see Table III-3.11 above).
Three or four procellariids were breeding on Abariringa (Canton) in small numbers (King
1973). Red-footed boobies and great frigatebirds formerly nested on Abariringa (Canton) in
the thousands, but with the clearing of the shrubs, they no longer.
Fosberg et al (1973) noted the disappearance over the last 25 years of the vast breeding
populations of freigate birds and red-footed boobies from Abariringa (Canton).
The bird populations on Abariringa (Canton) had been greatly reduced by the feral cats, dogs,
and the Polynesian rat on island as well as the fact that 40 percent of the land area had been
covered by man-made structures (Bryan 1974).
The difficulties in differentiating the Phoenix petrel, Pterodroma alba, from the Tahiti petrel,
P. rostrata, on Abariringa (Canton) were noted by Julian (1979). Both were identical, but the
Phoenix petrel can have a variable amount of white on its throat area. The petrel observed
had a dark throat area and was assumed to be a Phoenix petrel.
The spotted sandpiper, Actitis macularia, was also observed by Julian (1979) on Abariringa
(Canton).
Garnett (1983) noted that about a quarter of Abariringa (Canton) was greatly disturbed and
the once extensive seabird colonies have been much disturbed by human activities. Several
formerly abundant breeding species no longer nested there. Garnett (1983) provided
summaries of bird species present on Abariringa (Canton).
Governnment of Kiribati (1995) noted that birds concentrated on Spam Island on Abariringa.
Government of Kiribati (1995) reported on bird observations on Abariringa, Enderbury,
Manra, Nikumaroro, and Orona (see Table III-3.19 above).
Kepler (2000) reported on bird counts on Abariringa (Canton), Enderbury, Manra, Orona, and
Nikumaroro (see Table III-3.20 above).
In 2000, more than 20,000 brown noddies were observed returning to the land (Stone et al
2001). A small undetermined number of spectacled or sooty terns and white fairy terns were
also observed.
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