Hawaiian Island Breeding Seabird Population Estimates
Over 3 million pairs of seabirds are estimated to breed in the Hawaiian Islands annually. We present on this page three tables summarizing estimates for each breeding seabird species by island or island-group colony, for the Northewstern Hawaiian Islands, the Southeastern Hawaiian Islands, and the islets along the northeastern coast of O'ahu. Estimates represent breeding pairs and were taken from a variety of sources, beginning with the last systematic surveys of all colonies, undertaken by the POSPB in the Northwestern Hawaiian islands during the 1960s and updated by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in 1984 (Fefer et al. 1987; estimates repeated, with many updates to Southeastern Island populations, in Harrison 1990). POBSP results on colony size as well as breeding phenology and a review of the history of colony sizes can be found in the Atoll Research Bulletins for each Island: Kure (Woodward 1972), Pearl and Hermes (Amerson et al. 1974), Lisiansky (Clapp and Wirtz 1975), Laysan (Ely and Clapp 1973), Gardner Pinnacles (Clapp 1972), French Frigate Shoals (Amerson 1971), Necker (Clapp and Kridler 1977), and Nihoa (Clapp et al. 1977).
Other sources on population estimates published during the 2000-2010s, used to update these totals, include BNA accounts (Poole and Gill 1993-2014 and Rodewald 2015-2016), VanderWerf and David (2000), USFWS (2005b), Naughton et al. (2007), Flint (2008), McClelland et al. (2008), Keller et al. (2009), Hatfield et al. (2010), DOFAW (2012), Hartzell (2012), Hartzell et al. (2012), Reynolds et al. (2013b), BLI (2016), Saunter and Worcester (2016), U. S. Navy Commander (2016), and E. Vanderwerf (pers. comm.); along with information on specific colonies published in the species accounts. It should be noted that colony sizes can fluctuate greatly from year to year, and are generally very difficult to estimate for large colonies and for burrow-nesting species. When a series of estimates was available the values in the tables may reflect an average for multiple recent years, or may reflect estimates from the late 2000s and early 2010s for populations that were trending upward or downward. In many cases numbers were rounded so as not to reflect more accuracy than can realistically be expected. In the following tables, B represents a species known to breed on the island in historic times (since 1778) but not known to be breeding during the 2000-mid 2010s, and M indicates that the species has been recorded on the island or island group but is not known to breed there.
| NORTHWESTERN HAWAIIAN ISLANDS BREEDING SEABIRD POPULATIONS (PAIRS) | ||||||||||
| COMMON NAME | NWHI | Kure | Midway | P & H | Lisianski | Laysan | G. P. | FFS | Necker | Nihoa |
| Laysan Albatross | 802,100 | 25,000 |
600,000 | 7,000 | 26,500 | 140,000 | M | 3,100 | 500 | B |
| Black-footed Albatross | 67,830 | 3,500 | 28,000 | 6,100 | 2,100 | 23,000 | 5,000 | 100 |
30 | |
| Short-tailed Albatross | 2 | 1 | 1 | M | M | M | ||||
| Bonin Petrel | 421,120 | 600 | 150,000 | 500 | 200,000 | 70,000 | 20 | |||
| Bulwer's Petrel | 92,120 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 75 | 1,500 | 15 | 100 | 400 | 90,000 |
| Wedge-tailed Shearwater | 230,050 | 7,500 | 5,000 | 7,500 | 20,000 | 150,000 | 50 | 3,000 | 2,000 | 35,000 |
| Christmas Shearwater | 2,975 | 240 | 200 | 10 | 500 | 1,750 | 50 | M | 225 | |
| Tristram's Storm-Petrel | 5,840 | 40 | 50 | 500 | M | 2,000 | 250 | M | 3,000 | |
| White-tailed Tropicbird | 5 | M | 5 | M | M | M | ||||
| Red-tailed Tropicbird | 12,800 | 1,150 | 7,500 | 50 | 1,100 | 2,000 | 25 | 575 | 125 | 275 |
| Masked Booby | 2,365 | 70 | 5 | 150 | 325 | 425 | 140 | 700 | 275 | 275 |
| Brown Booby | 427 | 55 | 2 | 55 | 20 | 35 | 10 | 50 | 25 | 175 |
| Red-footed Booby | 7,950 | 1,500 | 475 | 50 | 300 | 275 | M | 3,000 | 600 | 1,750 |
| Great Frigatebird | 10,445 | 225 | 70 | 350 | 800 | 3,500 | M | 700 | 800 | 4,000 |
| Lesser Frigatebird | B | M | M | M | B | |||||
| COMMON
NAME |
NWHI | Kure | Midway | P & H | Lisianski | Laysan | G.P. | FFS | Necker | Nihoa |
| Brown Noddy | 80,750 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 10,000 | 12,500 | 1,250 | 10,000 | 13,000 | 30,000 |
| Black Noddy | 13,050 | 50 | 4,000 | 100 | 750 | 2,000 | 250 | 2,000 | 400 | 3,500 |
| Blue-gray Noddy | 3,780 | M | 15 | 15 | 1,250 | 2,500 | ||||
| White Tern | 25,190 | 150 | 20,000 | 15 | 75 | 1,000 | 200 | 50 | 200 | 3,500 |
| Sooty Tern | 1,265,400 | 10,000 | 100,000 | 40,000 | 500,000 | 425,000 | 400 | 150,000 | 20,000 | 20,000 |
| Gray-backed Tern | 43,725 | 25 | 1,000 | 700 | 17,500 | 7,500 | 2,000 | 1000 | 4,000 | 10,000 |
| Little Tern | B | M | B | B | M | M | ||||
| Least Tern | B | B | M | M | ||||||
| TOTALS | 3,087,924 | 51,116 | 917,318 | 65,090 | 780,045 | 842,485 | 4,355 | 179,610 | 43,675 | 204,230 |
P & H = Pearl and Hermes; G.P = Gardner Pinnacles; FFS = French Frigate Shoals
Click on species name for text account
| SOUTHEASTERN HAWAIIAN ISLANDS BREEDING SEABIRD POPULATIONS (PAIRS) | |||||||||||
| COMMON NAME | SEHI | Ka'ula | Lehua | Ni'ihau | Kaua'i | O'ahu | Moloka'i | Lana'i | Kaho'-olawe | Maui | Hawai'i |
| Laysan Albatross | 610 | 65 | 90 | 25? | 295 | 135 | M | M | M | M | |
| Black-footed Albatross | 45 | 5 | 40 | M | M | ||||||
| Hawaiian Petrel | 5,955 | M | 1,500 | M | 50 | 2,500 | 5 | 1,600 | 300 | ||
| Bulwer Petrel | 1,100 | 50 | 50 | M | 30 | 425 | 50 | 45 | 50 | 300 | 100 |
| Wedge-tailed Shearwater | 87,825 | 2,000 | 23,000 | ? | 15,000 | 40,000 | 1,900 | 300 | 200 | 5,025 | 400 |
| Christmas Shearwater | 155 | 100 | M | 55 | M | M | |||||
| Newell Shearwater | 10,300 | M | 10,000 | M | 50 | M | 50 | 200 | |||
| Band-rumped Storm-Petrel | 330 | M | 250 | M | 30 | 50 | |||||
| White-tailed Tropicbird | 1,550 | B | M | M | 750 | 75 | 250 | 75 | M | 150 | 250 |
| Red-tailed Tropicbird | 1,035 | 325 | 150 | B | 400 | 80 | 10 | 35 | 30 | M | 5 |
| Masked Booby | 350 | 300 | B | M | M | 50 | M | M | M | ||
| Brown Booby | 1,000 | 400 | 500 | M | B | 100 | M | M | B | M | M |
| Red-footed Booby | 4,500 | 300 | 1,400 | B | 1,800 | 1,000 | |||||
| Great Frigatebird | B | M | M | M | M | B | M | M | |||
| Brown Noddy | 26,010 | 4000 | B | 22,010 | |||||||
| Black Noddy | 2,035 | 100 | 200 | M | 400 | 160 | 350 | 75 | 250 | 200 | 300 |
| White Tern | 815 | 15 | 800 | ||||||||
| Sooty Tern | 132,500 | 42,500 | M | 90,000 | |||||||
| Gray-backed Tern | 525 | 500 | M | 25 | |||||||
| Least Tern | B | M | M | B | |||||||
| TOTALS | 276,810 | 50,120 | 25,430 | ? | 30,425 | 145,465 | 2,660 | 3,030 | 535 | 7,355 | 1,605 |
O'ahu totals include both offshore islets (below) and O'ahu proper
Click on species name for text account
| OAHU ISLETS, HAWAIIAN ISLANDS, BREEDING SEABIRD POPULATIONS (PAIRS) | ||||||||||
| COMMON NAME | Moku-auia | Mokoli'i | Kapapa | Kekepa | Moku- manu | Moko-lea | Popoia | Moku-luas | Manana | Kaohi-kaipu |
| Bulwer Petrel | 10 | 10 | 100 | 10 | 125 | 150 | 10 | 10 | ||
| Wedge-tailed Shearwater | 2,500 | 200 | 300 | 2,000 | 1,500 | 10,000 | 12,000 | 400 | ||
| Christmas Shearwater | 50 | 5 | ||||||||
| White-tailed Tropicbird | 2 | |||||||||
| Red-tailed Tropicbird | 15 | |||||||||
| Masked Booby | 50 | |||||||||
| Brown Booby | 100 | |||||||||
| Red-footed Booby | 200 | |||||||||
| Great Frigatebird | B | |||||||||
| Brown Noddy | 2,000 | 10 | 20,000 | |||||||
| Black Noddy | 75 | 20 | 10 | 5 | ||||||
| Sooty Tern | 15,000 | 75,000 | ||||||||
| Gray-backed Tern | 25 | |||||||||
| TOTALS | 2,500 | 202 | 310 | 10 | 19,590 | 40 | 1,625 | 10,155 | 107,025 | 415 |
Version 2 completed Jan 2017 and will not be updated for content until future versions are posted (typos and bad links will be fixed). Comments, errors, typos, bad links, updated information, any other suggestions: Please contact Peter Pyle at ppyle@bishopmuseum.org.
Citation: Pyle, R.L., and P. Pyle. 2017. The Birds of the Hawaiian Islands: Occurrence, History, Distribution, and Status. B.P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, HI, U.S.A. Version 2 (1 January 2017) http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/birds/rlp-monograph
