Puffin & Petrel Patrol What you can do as a Home & Business Owner

A project dedicated to Seabird conservation and habitat improvement along the southern shore of Newfoundland

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Table of Contents History ........................................................................................................................................................... 2

The Threat ..................................................................................................................................................... 2

The Puffin & Petrel Patrol ............................................................................................................................. 3

What you can do with your Problem Lighting .............................................................................................. 4

Avoid Up-lighting Fixtures ....................................................................................................................... 4

Reduce utility pole height ........................................................................................................................ 4

Install motion sensors and motion-sensitive lighting ............................................................................. 4

Alteration of light color ............................................................................................................................ 4

Lighting hood options .............................................................................................................................. 5

Appendix A .................................................................................................................................................... 6

Figure 1: Normal street lights in poor weather ....................................................................................... 7

Figure 2: Normal lighting directed downwards ....................................................................................... 7

Figure 3: Location of Atlantic Puffin & Leach’s Storm Petrel breeding colonies .................................... 7

Appendix B .................................................................................................................................................... 8

Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica) ........................................................................................................... 9

Leach’s Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma leucorhoa) .................................................................................... 9

For More Information ................................................................................................................................. 10

Special Thanks ............................................................................................................................................. 10

References .................................................................................................................................................. 11

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History The puffin and petrel patrol program started approximately eight years ago when

Juergen and Elfie Schau from Berlin, Germany were visiting their summer getaway in

Witless Bay. They began noticing these little birds (puffins) stranded along the roadside

and they wanted to help. They recruited local children to help rescue the stranded puffins

and quickly learned this was a regular event during fledging season. Since then, what has

started out as small initiative of two people wanting to help these birds with local

neighbours and their children has now grown into a community initiative of rescuing

juvenile puffins and petrels each year during fledging season.

The Witless Bay Ecological Reserve contains North America’s largest colony of

Atlantic Puffins and the world’s second largest colony of the Leach Storm Petrel, with both

having a sum of over 880,000 mating pairs. This ecological reserve runs from the Town of

Witless Bay to the Town of Burnt Cove, along the Southern Shore of Newfoundland (Figure

3). Both Puffins and Petrels dig burrows for nests and lay one egg in May or June, which is

incubated by both parents. When the chicks hatch, they begin leaving their nests in late

summer and early fall (during the fledging season) to make their way out to sea for the

winter. They fledge during the night in order to avoid predators and they use the moon,

stars, and horizon as their navigation system.

As a result of frequent overcast and foggy nights, the chicks often become

disoriented and are attracted to artificial lighting along the coasts, which they mistaken for

the moon. They soon find themselves far away from their natural habitat facing many

obstacles (cars, animals, etc) as they try to find their way back home. Artificial lighting

influences the migration, foraging, reproduction and parental behavior of seabirds. "So they

fly directly out of the burrow to the road and the street and sometimes they stand on the

road and say, 'oh look two moons,' and then they get hit by a car," Juergen explains when

people ask, why do these birds land on the streets.

The Threat Increased development along the southern shore, the area surrounding the Witless

Bay Ecological Reserve, has resulted in an increase in the number of stranded seabirds

turning up along our roadways and backyards. When a puffin or petrel chick fledges from

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their burrow, they look to the stars and the moon as a navigational system, directing them

out to sea. Today, with the booming community population, as chicks exit their burrows to

fledge on nights with poor weather conditions, they often become confused as the stars and

moon are becoming blurred compared to the artificial street lights, home lights and

security lights that are present along the Southern Shore (Figure 1 & 2). The artificial

lighting is causing them to navigate toward land, instead of out to the open ocean. Once

inland, they circle around the light, becoming confused and dehydrated from being away

from salt water for a period of time. Once dehydrated, they can no longer fly well and they

inevitably end up as cat pray or road kill. Even with the Puffin & Petrel Patrol persistent

volunteers, hundreds of chicks are still ending up dead on our roadways due to of this ever

growing issue.

The Puffin & Petrel Patrol Each night, volunteers from local communities as well as those whom have travelled

far and wide just to participate in the program, drive around searching for juvenile puffins.

Once they are caught, they are housed overnight in crates until they can be released the

next morning along the coast. In a partnership between Environment Canada’s Canadian

Wildlife Service and the Newfoundland and Labrador Chapter of the Canadian Parks and

Wilderness Society (CPAWS-NL), the birds are banded and weighed prior to being released.

In the summer of 2011, CPAWS-NL partnered with Juergen Schau in order to expand

this program to include the rescue of Leach’s Storm Petrels. The Seabird Conservation and

Habitat Improvement Program has also been implemented to educate and encourage locals

to “dim unnecessary lighting” along the coasts during fledging periods. The Puffin & Petrel

Patrol runs from August – October rescuing puffin and petrel chicks each year. Unlike

puffins, storm petrels are nocturnal and these birds will be released onto a dark beach the

same night they are rescued, while the puffins are kept overnight.

Each year the Puffin & Petrel Patrol continues results in more chicks being rescued

and banded for research purposes. In the latest years, over 600 puffin and petrel chicks

have been safely rescued and released back to sea. Sadly, no matter how many volunteers

we have out monitoring and rescuing stranded seabirds, we’re still left with the question as

to why these birds are coming ashore, when they’re supposed to go out to sea.

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Furthermore, because they’re coming inland, we are left each year with the sad reality of

unnecessary deaths of these two important and iconic seabirds.

What you can do with your Problem Lighting This year, instead of just dimming unnecessary lights, we are asking home and

business owners alike, to help us start the mitigation of this problem! We want the support

of everyone possible to help change the way we think about lights. Here are some cheap

alternatives:

Avoid Up-lighting Fixtures: Angling and repositioning lights down to the ground could be

an alternative to shielding or replacing light fixtures. Light fixtures may be adjusted so that

light fixtures point down to the ground as far as possible, to obtain a 90 degree angle

between the light fixture and the mounting surface/pole. Signs should be down lit, as

should landscape. Building facades should be down lit and turned off during the fallout

season if the lights are not necessary for security and safety.

Reduce utility pole height: Installing ground-level lighting, such as along walkways and

reducing utility pole height will decrease light waste and trespass, but may increase dark

spots on a site depending on the size of the lit area.

Install motion sensors and motion-sensitive lighting: Motion sensors switch lights on

only when triggered, thereby limiting the time that the light stays on and reducing its

potential for seabird light attraction. If a sensor light is required for security purposes, the

light equipped with the sensor should be at low light levels. Light sensors should be used

with a full cut-off or shielded light fixture, so that it draws in less puffin and petrel chicks.

Alteration of light color: In some places installation of amber, green and blue lights may be

appropriate in decreasing risk of attraction. Changing the color of your light can cause a 50-

90% reduction of impact: fewer birds display circling behavior with colored lights than with

normal LEDs.

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Lighting hood options:

If the following mitigation practises are understood and put in place, together people can

have a positive impact the current state of these two birds. If you have any questions or

want to learn more, please contact CPAWS-NL!

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Appendix A

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Figure 1: Normal street lights in poor weather

Figure 2: Normal lighting directed downwards

Figure 3: Location of Atlantic Puffin & Leach’s Storm Petrel breeding colonies

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Appendix B

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Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica)

Official bird of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador

The Witless Bay Ecological Reserve contains the largest colony of Atlantic Puffins, with 260,000 mating pairs

Puffins eat small fish and can dive to a depth of 70 meters

Puffins dig burrows for nests and lay a single egg which both parents take turns incubating

Chicks hatch in July and begin leaving their nests in August to migrate to the open ocean where they spend the winter

Unlike colourful adult puffins, the beak and feet of the chicks are grey/black

Leach’s Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma leucorhoa)

Commonly known as Mother Carey’s Chickens The Leach’s Storm-Petrel is the smallest and most

abundant seabird to breed in the northwest Atlantic The Witless Bay Ecological Reserve contains the

second largest colony of Leach’s Storm-Petrels in the world, with over 620,000 pairs

The Leach’s Storm-Petrel is a small black bird with a white patch on the rump. These birds have a distinctive tube nose

Leach’s Storm-Petrels are nocturnal, meaning they are only active at night

Petrel parents lay a single egg and take turns incubating

Chicks hatch in late July to early August and leave their nest during the night in mid September to late October

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For More Information

Contact CPAWS-NL: Email: nlmarine@cpaws.org Tel: (709) 726-5800 Web: www.cpawsnl.org

Witless Bay Puffin Patrol on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter @CPAWSNL

Special Thanks

Special Thanks to our volunteers, local communities and businesses who contribute

their time and other valuable resources to this project.

We would like to send a very special thank you to Juergen and Elfie Schau for your continued dedication to rescuing seabirds!

Also, Special Thanks to our Supporters:

Keiko and Jim Alsop - Toronto, Canada

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References

CPAWS-NL. (2011). The Effects of Artificial Lighting. Retrieved from

http://cpawsnl.org/campaigns/seabird-conservation-and-habitat-improvement-

program-the- puffin-and-petrel

Kauai Seabird Habitat Conservation Program. (2013). Avoidance and Minimization of

Seabird Light Attraction. Retrieved from http://www.kauai-

seabirdhcp.info/minimization/lights/index.html

S.I Wilhelm, J.J Schau, E. Schau, S.M Dolley, D.L Wiseman, H.A Hogan. (2013). Atlantic Puffins

are Attracted to Coastal Communities in Eastern Newfoundland. Retrieved from

http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1656/045.020.0409