Endangered Laysan Ducks Have a New Home

A male/female pair of Laysan ducks on Eastern Island at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. Credit: John Klavitter/FWS

The endangered Laysan duck (Anas laysanesis) has a new home at Kure Atoll Wildlife Sanctuary within Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. In September, a team of wildlife biologists captured 28 of the birds from Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and transported them aboard the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Cutter Kukui to their new lodgings.

The team worked throughout three days and nights to select candidate birds based on age class, health and male-to-female sex ratio. The ducks were cared for in aviaries and provided with hydration, nutritional support, health screenings, tasty worms and duck chow to eat, and swimming pools. Biosecurity measures were taken, including a duck foot bath and quarantine of transport boxes and food, to prevent any transfer of invasive species from one island to another.

After successfully snaring a Laysan duck on a noose carpet, Michelle Reynolds dashes back to free its leg from the trap and put it safely into a bird bag. A noose carpet is composed of numerous loops of fishing line attached to a wire mesh; when a duck steps into one of these “nooses,” it tightens around the bird’s leg. Credit: Eric Dale/FWS Volunteer

The endangered Laysan duck is the rarest duck in the Northern hemisphere and has the smallest geographic range of any duck species in the world. It once occurred across the Hawaiian Archipelago but disappeared from the main Hawaiian Islands with the arrival of invasive rats around 800 years ago.

Its disappearance from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands occurred later, with the very last population isolated on Laysan Island for more than 150 years. At the turn of the twentieth century, humans introduced rabbits to Laysan Island that rapidly devastated the vegetation, leading to the extinction of three endemic land birds (Laysan rail, Laysan Honeycreeper and Laysan Millerbird).

USFWS biologist Meg Duhr-Schultz (right) holds a Laysan duck while USGS biologist Michelle Reynolds clamps an aluminum band on its leg for the translocation. Credit: Eric Dale/FWS Volunteer

Upon arrival at Kure Atoll, some of the ducks were released in a 500 gallon "wildlife guzzler" filled by rainwater. Credit: Cynthia Vanderlip/DLNR

The Laysan duck population was recorded at 11 birds in 1911; their numbers climbed quickly after the rabbits were eradicated from Laysan in 1923. In 2004 and 2005, ducks were successfully translocated from Laysan Island to Midway Atoll to increase the species’ chance of survival. Those two populations were approaching 1,000 total birds until the 2011 Tōhoku Tsunami hit their island homes, causing a 40 percent decrease in the population. Establishing additional populations of the species will reduce its risk of extinction from random disasters, introduced species or disease outbreaks.

Midway Atoll Refuge Biologist Meg Duhr-Schultz sends off Kure Atoll Manager Cynthia Vanderlip and 28 Laysan ducks to Kure Atoll. Credit: Eric Dale/FWS Volunteer

Two dug out wetland seeps and a guzzler make fresh water habitat readily available at the Laysan ducks’ new home on Kure Atoll. Credit: John Klavitter/FWS

Kure Atoll is located about 1,350 miles northwest of Honolulu. The 90-hectare atoll was chosen as a reintroduction site because mammalian predators (rats) were eliminated starting in 1993, and the site has been undergoing habitat rehabilitation since 2007. Cynthia Vanderlip and her team from Hawaii’s DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife on Kure Atoll have been working diligently to prepare the atoll for the arrival of the ducks and will report sightings of the translocated birds.

This landmark event marks the 10th Anniversary of the Laysan duck project in 2004, when the first of these island waterfowl were translocated from Laysan Island to Midway Atoll.

Biologists from the Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Hawaiʻi Wildlife Center led this initiative, with assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG).

Laysan duck translocation team (left to right): Mark Vekasy, Linda Elliott, Michelle Reynolds, Leona Laniawe, John Klavitter, Karen Courtot, Meg Duhr-Schultz and Kathy Clark on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. (Cynthia Vanderlip, a critical part of the team, is not pictured). Credit: Eric Dale/FWS Volunteer

Read the Press Release.

See more pictures and video:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwspacific/sets/72157647398966195/
http://www.dvidshub.net/video/359925/endangered-duck-release.

Laysan Duck Project Additional Partners