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| Photo: Glen Tepke |
The Pink-footed Shearwater is a seabird
of the eastern Pacific that breeds only on three islands off
the coast of Chile. Two of the islands, Robinson Crusoe and
Santa Clara, are in the Juan Fernández Islands and
have several thousand pairs; the largest colony, 13,000 to
25,000 pairs, is Isla Mocha, off the coast of Arauco. In the
nonbreeding season (the northern hemisphere summer) the bird
is found off western North America as far as the coast of
southeastern Alaska. On Robinson Crusoe the bird nests in
eroded habitat with sparse vegetation at an elevation of 150-300
m, while on Isla Mocha it is found in forest with highest
burrow density along mountain ridges and between the roots
of old-growth trees. It feeds on fish, squid and crustaceans
over the continental shelf.
The birds are preyed on by rats on all
three islands; predation by cats, dogs and coatis is a problem
at some of the colonies, and soil erosion by goats and rabbits
also affect the birds in the Juan Fernández Islands.
Islanders on Isla Mocha harvest the chicks for food, though
this practice is illegal. Robinson Crusoe and Santa Clara
are part of a national park and the colony on Mocha is within
a national reserve. The bird would benefit greatly from the
removal of all introduced mammals, in addition to reducing
harvesting of chicks and replanting native vegetation. The
Pink-footed and Flesh-footed Shearwaters are closely related,
and some authorities consider them to be the same species.
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