Seabirds

Seabirds 

We have a special, long-term applied research program focused on seabirds as sentinels of the health of Wudjari Sea Country, and beyond.

These incredible ocean wanderers play a critical role in nurturing the food chain - if their populations are healthy, we know the fish and islands they rely upon must be healthy too. We are lucky to have marine biologist and seabird specialist, Dr Jennifer Lavers, as one of our HLSP Coordinators and the Recherche Archipelago islands on the doorstep of Kepa Kurl/Esperance.

This unique island chain is relatively poorly documented, this presents an opportunity for our rangers to be at the forefront of discovery and threatened species conservation. Over the past few years, our team have been busy monitoring seabird breeding success, tagging and measuring adults and chicks as part of their condition assessment, and taking samples to monitor for diseases like avian flu.

Many of these projects are developed in collaboration with our amazing project partners, including graduate students enrolled at universities and our cultural neighbours who we 'share' these birds with. Yowli/shearwaters breed in Wudjari Country, but spend the winter months with Yupik and other Indigenous communities in Alaska - we're excited to support projects that bring people and birds together for shared learning and healing.