Seabird Restoration:
Restore Alcids to Santa Barbara Island

The goal of this action is to re-establish, over a period of 5 years, a once-active Cassin’s auklet breeding population on Santa Barbara Island that was decimated by cats brought to the island in the late 1800s. Efforts to re-establish this colony will include using social facilitation methods (e.g., vocalization playback systems to attract other individuals), installing nest boxes, and improving habitat through the removal of non-native vegetation from historical nesting areas and revegetation with native plants.

The state-threatened Xantus’s murrelet will also be targeted for restoration on the island. Santa Barbara Island is home to the largest colony of Xantus’s murrelets in California despite a documented population decline over the last 20 years. Because some Xantus’s murrelet nest sites have been lost due to reduction in shrub cover on the island, this action will provide secure nesting area for this species. Eggshell thinning and/or elevated levels of DDTs were documented in the eggs of both of these species in the Southern California Bight.

The main objectives of this habitat effort are restore Cassin’s auklets and Xantus’s murrelets by: (1) increasing recruitment, (2) increasing reproductive output, and (3) decreasing egg and chick mortality by providing safe breeding habitat. The estimated cost of this action is $602,000.

Biological Surveys
In Spring 2008, biologists conducted surveys of Xantus's murrelets to quantify the population and identify nesting areas on Santa Barbara Island. Biologists conducted an assessment of the status of Cassin's auklets on Santa Barbara Island, involving collecting historical data from the literature and conducting a visual survey in April and May of 2008. Four techniques were used to survey for Cassin's auklets: a) nocturnal mist net captures and vocalization surveys; b) diurnal nest searches; c) nocturnal spotlight surveys at 200m from shore around predetermined transect lines, and d) nocturnal exploration of nesting habitats on coasts with spotlights, and at-sea captures on one to two nights. Additional surveying using the previously described techniques is planned for 2009. The goal of these surveys is to get a better baseline status of the population and for use in developing a long-term population monitoring program.

Santa Barbara Island - In December, 2008 volunteers and staff from the Montrose Settlements Restoration Program journeyed to Santa Barbara Island for a mass planting of native shrubs. After a long day of intense labor over 1,000 native plants were placed in the ground that will provide suitable nesting habitat for Xantus’s Murrelets and Cassin’s Auklets. These are two seabirds that originally nested in large numbers on Santa Barbara Island until the non-native ice plant took over parts of the island reducing the amount of suitable nesting habitat. This short film shows the challenges of working in a unique environment and the intrigue of this tiny island off of California’s coast. Video transcript.

Project Update - Biological Surveys
In Spring 2008, biologists will conduct surveys of Xantus's murrelets to quantify the population and identify nesting areas on the island. Biologists will also conduct an assessment of the status of Cassin's auklets on Santa Barbara Island, involving collecting historical data from the literature and conducting a visual survey in April and May of 2008. Four techniques will be used to survey for Cassin's auklets: a) nocturnal mist net captures and vocalization surveys; b) diurnal nest searches; c) nocturnal spotlight surveys at 200m from shore around predetermined transect lines, and d) nocturnal exploration of nesting habitats on coasts with spotlights, and at-sea captures on one to two nights-->

Habitat Restoration
In 2007, a small pilot re-vegetation effort was completed with a high survival rate of the native plants. In 2008, the project expanded re-vegetation efforts to additional nesting habitat for both Cassin's auklets and Xantus's murrelets. Planting in additional areas for both Cassin’s auklets and Xantus’s murrelets will continue in 2009. Three plots have been replanted to date with a total of 5,000 plants.

In 2009, habitat restoration for the auklets will be coupled with social attraction. A solar-powered audio system for broadcasting vocalizations of Cassin's auklets will be placed within the interior re-vegetation plot in early 2009 following protocols established by the National Audubon Society. Monitoring of auklets will take place during the pre-breeding and breeding season to ensure success of the social attraction technique.

	Native plants provide shelter for nesting seabirds on Santa Barbara Island.			First Cassin's Auklet discovered in Spring 2009 nesting on Santa Barbara Island in 15 years!
			Darrell Whitworth / California Institute of Environmental Studies