{"id":43874,"date":"2020-06-06T19:35:50","date_gmt":"2020-06-06T23:35:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/?p=43874"},"modified":"2024-11-06T13:03:20","modified_gmt":"2024-11-06T18:03:20","slug":"mexicos-conservation-efforts-spur-dramatic-recoveries-for-20-species-of-seabirds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/mexicos-conservation-efforts-spur-dramatic-recoveries-for-20-species-of-seabirds\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexico's Conservation Efforts Spur Dramatic Recoveries for 20+ Species of Seabirds"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-group sidebar-alignright sidebar-space order-bottom\"><div class=\"article-list list-style alignright\"><h2 class=\"article-list-header\">More From Living Bird<\/h2><ul><li class=\"article-item\"><div class=\"article-item-container\"><div class=\"article-item-media  content-living-bird-toc\"><figure class=\"article-item-media-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/TOC-AAvocets-Groo-FI.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/TOC-AAvocets-Groo-FI-720x405.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/TOC-AAvocets-Groo-FI-240x135.jpg 240w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/TOC-AAvocets-Groo-FI-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/TOC-AAvocets-Groo-FI-480x270.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/TOC-AAvocets-Groo-FI.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"article-item-body\"><span class=\"article-item-header\">Living Bird Summer 2020\u2014Table of Contents<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"article-item\"><div class=\"article-item-container\"><div class=\"article-item-media  content-living-bird-toc\"><figure class=\"article-item-media-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-latest.png\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-latest.png 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-latest-240x180.png 240w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-latest-480x360.png 480w\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"Living Bird-latest issue\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"article-item-body\"><span class=\"article-item-header\">Living Bird Magazine\u2014Latest Issue<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"article-item\"><div class=\"article-item-container\"><div class=\"article-item-media  content-article\"><figure class=\"article-item-media-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-acrhive.png\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-acrhive.png 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-acrhive-240x180.png 240w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/living-bird-acrhive-480x360.png 480w\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"Living Bird archives\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/figure><\/div><div class=\"article-item-body\"><span class=\"article-item-header\">Living Bird Magazine Archives<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>\n<p><small>From the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/living-bird-summer-2020-table-of-contents\/\">Summer 2020 issue<\/a> of <em>Living Bird<\/em> magazine. <a href=\"https:\/\/join.birds.cornell.edu\/page\/14522\/donate\/1?ea.tracking.id=LBD#_ga=2.154568112.928605657.1591594037-876990745.1557849167\">Subscribe now<\/a>.<\/small><\/p>\n<p>In 1980, a San Diego newspaper published a eulogy, of sorts, for the wildlife of Mexico\u2019s westernmost possession\u2014Guadalupe, a big volcanic island 150 miles off the coast of Baja California.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDeath of an Island,\u201d read the headline. \u201cEaten away by goats.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Once known as Isla de los P\u00e1jaros (or \u201cisland of the birds\u201d), remote and rugged Guadalupe was home to more endemic bird species than any other island off the Pacific Coast of North America. That came to an end when sealers and whalers arrived in the early 1800s. They brought goats, which leveled the pine and cypress forest, and cats, which killed thousands of birds. Five of eight endemic land birds went extinct. The Guadalupe Storm-Petrel disappeared.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/GSPetrel-Keuleman.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/GSPetrel-Keuleman-720x518.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/GSPetrel-Keuleman-768x552.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/GSPetrel-Keuleman-480x345.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/GSPetrel-Keuleman.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption>The Guadalupe Storm-Petrel was an abundant breeder on Guadalupe around 1900, but the last confirmed sighting of the species was in 1912. <em>Illustration <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Oceanodroma.macrodactyla.jpg\">John Gerrard Keuleman\/Wikimedia Commons<\/a>.<\/em><\/figcaption>\n              <\/figure><\/div>\n<p>But in the few decades since that grim newspaper article was written, something marvelous has happened on Guadalupe. The goats are gone; the vegetation is rebounding. A colony of Laysan Albatrosses has materialized out of nowhere. Here, and on other once-devastated islands throughout the ocean waters off northwest Mexico, populations of auklets, murrelets, storm-petrels, gulls, terns, boobies, pelicans, and cormorants have been reappearing as if by magic.<\/p>\n<p>Magic &#8230; and a lot of hard work. Over the past two and a half decades, Mexican biologists have pulled off a massive effort to reverse centuries of damage and restore these seabird nesting islands. Their success is a gleam of hope, in a world that is losing seabirds fast.<\/p>\n<h3>Global Seabird Decline<\/h3>\n<p>Many islands around the globe have suffered a biodiversity crisis. More than four-fifths of the world\u2019s bird and mammal extinctions have occurred on islands. The biggest drivers of extinction are invasive mammals: rats, cats, goats, pigs, donkeys, rabbits.<\/p>\n<p>When seafaring humans set foot on an island, they tend to bring other mammals with them\u2014and seabirds suffer. Rats and cats run amok on seabird breeding colonies, eating eggs, young, and even vulnerable nesting adults. Livestock can be just as destructive. When goats chewed away the vegetation on Guadalupe, they caused erosion that affected the storm-petrels nesting in burrows in the forest.<\/p>\n<p>These are pressures that seabirds can\u2019t afford to face. Of the world\u2019s roughly 350 seabird species, about half have declining populations. From penguins in the Antarctic to puffins in the Arctic, seabirds collectively have declined almost 70% since the 1950s, faster than every other comparable group of birds. One consequence of this loss is a broken link in the ecosystem: Seabirds fertilize the plant life on islands with their guano (feces), which is full of marine nutrients from eating fish, squid, and krill.<\/p>\n<p>The seas and shores of Mexico make up one of the most important regions for seabirds in the world. With more than 4,000 islands and islets, Mexico has one-third of the world\u2019s seabird species nesting on its islands or feeding in its waters, and is second only to New Zealand in its diversity of endemic seabirds. But with islands overrun by mammals, Mexico\u2019s seabirds faced a bleak future on their breeding grounds.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery gallery-slideshow has-nested-images featured \" style=\"\" aria-label=\"slideshow\"><figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Slideshow-map2-1280x747.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Slideshow-map2-720x420.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Slideshow-map2-1280x747.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Slideshow-map2-768x448.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Slideshow-map2-480x280.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Slideshow-map2.jpg 1380w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" alt=\"Seabirds come back to Mexican Islands. Over the past 25 years, scientists have worked to remove 60 populations of invasive mammals from the islands off the coast of the Baja Peninsula in western Mexico. As a result, 22 out of 27 previously extirpated bird species have returned to nest on the islands. Infographic by Jillian Ditner.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\"><strong>Seabirds come back to Mexican islands.<\/strong> Over the past 25 years, scientists have worked to remove 60 populations of invasive mammals from the islands off the coast of the Baja Peninsula in western Mexico. As a result, 22 out of 27 previously extirpated bird species have returned to nest on the islands. <em>Infographic by Jillian Ditner.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/slideshow-BCormorant-Nelson-1280x747.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/slideshow-BCormorant-Nelson-720x420.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/slideshow-BCormorant-Nelson-1280x747.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/slideshow-BCormorant-Nelson-768x448.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/slideshow-BCormorant-Nelson-480x280.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/slideshow-BCormorant-Nelson.jpg 1380w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" alt=\"A colony of Brandt\u2019s Cormorant numbering over 3,000 nests had completely disappeared by the late 20th century. Today the island has more than 300 nests, and the number is still increasing. Photo by Mike Nelson\/Macaulay Library.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">On Isla San Mart\u00edn, a colony of Brandt\u2019s Cormorants numbering over 3,000 nests had completely disappeared by the late 20th century. Today the island has more than 300 nests, and the number is still increasing. <em>Photo by <a href=\"https:\/\/macaulaylibrary.org\/asset\/101518021\">Mike Nelson\/Macaulay Library<\/a>,<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/slideshow-CAuklet-Johnson-1280x747.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/slideshow-CAuklet-Johnson-720x420.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/slideshow-CAuklet-Johnson-1280x747.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/slideshow-CAuklet-Johnson-768x448.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/slideshow-CAuklet-Johnson-480x280.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/slideshow-CAuklet-Johnson.jpg 1380w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" alt=\"In 2008, 100 pairs of Cassin\u2019s Auklets had recolonized these two islands, where they had previously been extirpated. In 2017 that number had increased to over 2,000 pairs. Photo by Tom Johnson\/Macaulay Library.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">In 2008, 100 pairs of Cassin\u2019s Auklets had recolonized San Roque and Asunci\u00f3n islands, where they had previously been extirpated. In 2017 that number had increased to over 2,000 pairs. <em>Photo by <a href=\"https:\/\/macaulaylibrary.org\/asset\/63175111\">Tom Johnson\/Macaulay Library<\/a>.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/slideshow-BFBooby-Lahde-1280x747.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/slideshow-BFBooby-Lahde-720x420.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/slideshow-BFBooby-Lahde-1280x747.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/slideshow-BFBooby-Lahde-768x448.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/slideshow-BFBooby-Lahde-480x280.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/slideshow-BFBooby-Lahde.jpg 1380w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" alt=\"In 2016, researchers discovered the northernmost Blue-footed Booby nest in the world, which was also the first record of the species nesting on any Baja island. Photo by Glenn Lahde\/Macaulay Library.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">In 2016, researchers discovered the northernmost Blue-footed Booby nest in the world, on San Jer\u00f3nimo island. This was also the first record of the species nesting on any Baja island. <em>Photo by <a href=\"https:\/\/macaulaylibrary.org\/asset\/116253751\">Glenn Lahde\/Macaulay Library<\/a>.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n<h3>International Seabird Alliances<\/h3>\n<p>Twenty-five years ago Mexican conservationists began the crucial first stage of island restoration: routing the invaders.<\/p>\n<p>One of the first islands in the country to be cleared of invasive mammals was a low-lying rock within the Gulf of California: Isla Rasa, the small, unassuming home to nearly all of the Heermann\u2019s Gulls and Elegant Terns in the world.<\/p>\n<p>After years of research on Isla Rasa, Enriqueta Velarde of the University of Veracruz was certain that invasive rats were harming bird populations by eating eggs and chicks. Velarde and her collaborators, led by Jes\u00fas Ram\u00edrez of the Universidad Nacional Aut\u00f3noma de M\u00e9xico, set up poisoned bait stations all over the island, carefully targeting the invasive rodents with methods that had worked on islands around the world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe got advice from people from New Zealand, Australia, Gal\u00e1pagos, and the Channel Islands of California,\u201d Velarde said. \u201cAnd it was successful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Once the rats were gone, the seabirds began to breed prolifically\u2014 especially Elegant Terns, whose population increased tenfold.<\/p>\n<p>A few years later, it was Guadalupe\u2019s turn. In 2000, an NSF-funded expedition of U.S. and Mexican scientists visited the Pacific island by helicopter to assess its conservation challenges. Shortly afterward Mexican conservationists, led by former GECI director Alfonso Aguirre-Mu\u00f1oz, approached their federal government about eradicating goats from Guadalupe.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was the turning point, when we sat with them and said \u2018We can do this. We can get the funding, and we can do it right, once and for all,\u2019\u201d said Federico M\u00e9ndez-S\u00e1nchez, executive director of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.islas.org.mx\/#gsc.tab=0\">Grupo de Ecolog\u00eda y Conservaci\u00f3n de Islas<\/a>, a conservation nonprofit group that has worked to restore islands off of northwest Mexico since 1998.<\/p>\n<p>The Mexican scientists enlisted the expertise of invasive-predator eradication specialists from New Zealand. They also sought support from the Mexican Navy, which has a base on Guadalupe.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[The Navy] provides logistics. They take us to islands, they bring a helicopter,\u201d said M\u00e9ndez-S\u00e1nchez.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group sidebar-alignright sidebar-space order-bottom\"><!--HubSpot Call-to-Action Code -->\r\n<span class=\"hs-cta-wrapper\" id=\"hs-cta-wrapper-096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da\">\r\n    <span class=\"hs-cta-node hs-cta-096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da\" id=\"hs-cta-096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da\">\r\n        <!--[if lte IE 8]><div id=\"hs-cta-ie-element\"><\/div><![endif]-->\r\n        <a href=\"http:\/\/cta-redirect.hubspot.com\/cta\/redirect\/95627\/096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da\" ><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"hs-cta-img\" id=\"hs-cta-img-096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da\" style=\"border-width:0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/95627\/096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da.png\"  alt=\"subscribe to Living Bird magazine\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\r\n    <\/span>\r\n    <script charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https:\/\/js.hscta.net\/cta\/current.js\"><\/script>\r\n    <script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n        hbspt.cta.load(95627, '096b8ce3-0e2d-46c5-bbf7-12de3323c8da', {});\r\n    <\/script>\r\n<\/span>\r\n<!-- end HubSpot Call-to-Action Code -->\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n<p>With this help, Grupo de Ecolog\u00eda y Conservaci\u00f3n de Islas eradicated all the goats from Guadalupe\u2014more than 50,000 of them\u2014by 2007.<\/p>\n<p>It was a big victory, on a big island, with a big payoff. The vegetation started to come back immediately.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe resilience of the island is so powerful,\u201d M\u00e9ndez-S\u00e1nchez said. \u201cIt\u2019s inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>From there, the group turned its efforts toward dozens of smaller islands up and down the Pacific coast of Baja California. In just 20 years Grupo de Ecolog\u00eda y Conservaci\u00f3n de Islas removed 60 populations of invasive mammals from 39 islands: rats, cats, mice, dogs, donkeys, goats, and rabbits. With invasive mammals gone, the stage was set for seabirds to return.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n              <figure class=\"size-large alignnone\">\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/GuadalupeFence-Soriano.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/GuadalupeFence-Soriano-1280x719.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/GuadalupeFence-Soriano-720x404.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/GuadalupeFence-Soriano-1280x719.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/GuadalupeFence-Soriano-240x135.jpg 240w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/GuadalupeFence-Soriano-768x431.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/GuadalupeFence-Soriano-480x269.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/GuadalupeFence-Soriano.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" alt=\"A 735-meter-long fence built in 2014 protects nesting Laysan Albatrosses and other species from cats on 150 acres on Guadalupe Island. Photo courtesy of GECI\/J. A. Soriano.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n                <figcaption>A 735-meter-long fence built in 2014 protects nesting Laysan Albatrosses and other species from cats on 150 acres on Guadalupe Island. <em>Photo courtesy of GECI\/J. A. Soriano.<\/em><\/figcaption>\n              <\/figure>\n            <\/div>\n<h3>Social Attraction for Seabirds<\/h3>\n<p>Even after the mammal invaders are removed it\u2019s not always easy to convince seabirds to recolonize an island.<\/p>\n<p>Seabirds tend to return to their own fledging locations when it comes time to breed. And they avoid nesting on empty islands, where they would be the first kids on the block.<\/p>\n<p>Audubon biologist Steve Kress pioneered a method to deal with this seabird neophobia in his restoration work for Atlantic Puffins. Kress used an array of social attraction methods, including decoys and sound recordings, to entice puffins back to islets off the coast of Maine in the 1970s.<\/p>\n<p>Protocols from <a href=\"https:\/\/projectpuffin.audubon.org\/\">Project Puffin<\/a> have since been used around the world, including on the islands of northwest Mexico. Over the past decade, the biologists of Grupo de Ecolog\u00eda y Conservaci\u00f3n de Islas have been attracting seabirds to islands by installing decoys, audio systems, and mirrors (which create an illusion of more birds than there really are). Biologists built artificial burrows to give seabirds a head start on nesting in their new homes. While continuing to remove invasive mammals and vegetation, they have also trained lighthouse keepers and navy personnel to avoid introducing new invasive species.<\/p>\n<p>The Cornell Lab of Ornithology sent bioacoustics specialists to consult with the Mexican biologists on audio attraction techniques, such as building playlists of seabird breeding calls. Mexican scientists also traveled to Maine to exchange expertise with Audubon\u2019s Project Puffin.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe always say, it\u2019s collaborate, collaborate, collaborate, both nationally and internationally,\u201d M\u00e9ndez-S\u00e1nchez said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/AukletFieldwork-Soriano.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/AukletFieldwork-Soriano-720x478.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/AukletFieldwork-Soriano-768x510.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/AukletFieldwork-Soriano-480x319.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/AukletFieldwork-Soriano.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"A seabird specialist from GECI installs artificial burrows for Cassin\u2019s Auklets on the steep slopes of Isla Coronado Norte. Photo courtesy of GECI\/J. A. Soriano.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption>A seabird specialist from GECI installs artificial burrows for Cassin\u2019s Auklets on the steep slopes of Isla Coronado. <em>Photo courtesy of GECI\/J. A. Soriano.<\/em><\/figcaption>\n              <\/figure><\/div>\n<p>An international partnership between the United States, Canada, and Mexico\u2014the Trilateral Island Initiative\u2014 brought substantial funding to the effort, in the form of pollution settlement funds from an oil spill near San Francisco\u2019s Golden Gate Bridge and from DDT pollution off the coast of Los Angeles. This U.S. funding supported restoration on Mexico\u2019s Pacific islands specifically for seabird species shared between the two countries.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe birds move!\u201d explained restoration ecologist Jennifer Boyce of the NOAA Restoration Center. Many birds affected by ocean pollution in U.S. waters breed in Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>The collaboration was a massive success. Of 27 seabird populations that had disappeared from Pacific islands near Baja California, 22 populations have returned within the past decade. Four new species are nesting in the region, including Blue-footed Booby and Caspian Tern.<\/p>\n<p>And the work continues at full tilt for Grupo de Ecolog\u00eda y Conservaci\u00f3n de Islas. The group\u2019s marine birds project director, Yuliana Bedolla-G\u00fazman, could not be reached for comment on this story, because she was on remote Socorro Island, working to save the critically endangered Townsend\u2019s Shearwater.<\/p>\n<p>The group\u2019s ongoing achievements are \u201csignificant conservation gains,\u201d said Holly Jones of Northern Illinois University, an expert on the roles of seabirds in the recovery of island ecosystems.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe extra work they are doing restoring these islands\u2014attracting seabirds, habitat restoration\u2014is something that is rarely done to follow up eradications, and is likely to speed up [island] recovery,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd their work at one relatively localized area has been critical in helping conserve global populations of seabird species.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n              <figure class=\"size-large alignnone\">\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/AlbatrossDecoys-Soriano.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/AlbatrossDecoys-Soriano-1280x738.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/AlbatrossDecoys-Soriano-720x415.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/AlbatrossDecoys-Soriano-1280x738.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/AlbatrossDecoys-Soriano-768x443.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/AlbatrossDecoys-Soriano-480x277.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/AlbatrossDecoys-Soriano.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" alt=\"Researchers placed Laysan Albatross decoys in pairs simulating courtship rituals on Guadalupe in efforts to entice more individuals to what has become the largest colony in the eastern Pacific. Photo courtesy of GECI\/J. A. Soriano.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n                <figcaption>Researchers placed Laysan Albatross decoys in pairs simulating courtship rituals on Guadalupe in efforts to entice more individuals to what has become the largest colony in the eastern Pacific. <em>Photo courtesy of GECI\/J. A. Soriano.<\/em><\/figcaption>\n              <\/figure>\n            <\/div>\n<h3>Guadalupe Now<\/h3>\n<p>Mexico is working toward a national goal of removing all nonnative mammals from its islands by 2030. On Guadalupe, happily, the 1980 prediction that the island will \u201ccontinue to slowly deteriorate\u201d has not come true. Not only is vegetation returning to the goat-free island, but both landbird and seabird populations are growing.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group legacy-sidebar sidebar-alignright has-lightgray-background-color has-background\">\n<h4>Reference<\/h4>\n<p>Bedolla-Guzm\u00e1n, Y, et al. 2019. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.issg.org\/pdf\/publications\/2019_Island_Invasives\/Bedolla-Guzman.pdf\">Recovery and current status of seabirds on the Baja California Pacific Islands, Mexico, following restoration actions<\/a>. In: C.R. Veitch, M.N. Clout, A.R. Martin, J.C. Russell and C.J. West (eds.) (2019). Island invasives: scaling up to meet the challenge, pp. 531\u2013538. Occasional Paper SSC no. 62. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Guadalupe is still plagued by invasive cats, but Grupo de Ecolog\u00eda y Conservaci\u00f3n de Islas is working to remove them by 2021. In the meantime, to protect nesting Laysan Albatrosses, the biologists built a 735-meter-long cat-proof fence modeled after fences they had seen in New Zealand and Hawaii.<\/p>\n<p>The year after the fence was erected, two pairs of nesting Guadalupe Murrelets joined the albatrosses inside the 150-acre protected area. The murrelets had long before been wiped off their namesake island, where most of the population once bred. Now their population has exploded to 187 active burrows in only four years.<\/p>\n<p>With social attraction techniques, Mexican biologists aim to bring more and more murrelets to Guadalupe from the surrounding islets, along with other species that had been driven off the island in the past: Cassin\u2019s Auklets, Black-vented Shearwaters, and the endemic Ainley\u2019s and Townsend\u2019s Storm-Petrels (recently split from Leach\u2019s Storm-Petrel).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy hat goes off to these folks,\u201d said David Ainley, the Pacific seabird researcher for whom Ainley\u2019s Storm-Petrel is named. \u201cIt\u2019s an incredible effort.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As for the Guadalupe Storm-Petrel: still missing. But maybe, just maybe, when the cats are gone, it will return.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers are keeping an eye out, said M\u00e9ndez-S\u00e1nchez: \u201cThere\u2019s hope.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Abby McBride is a science writer and Fulbright National Geographic Storytelling Fellow. 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