The banding programme on Puffinus tenuirostris (Temminck). II. Second report, 1956-1960

Abstract

From 1947 to 1960,30,336 fledgling and adult short-tailed shearwaters, Puflnus tenuirostris (Temminck), have been banded in their south-eastern Australian breeding stations. Most of the fledglings were marked on commercial mutton-birding islands in connection with a "Lincoln Index" study of harvesting intensity, but 12,020 of these birds are considered to have survived the commercial operations to leave on their first migration. In addition, 1693 adults were banded on various islands. Recoveries at the banding-place confirm earlier work (a) on the degree to which young adults home back to their natal islands, and (b) on the site-tenacity of the established breeders. There have been 10 recoveries of marked birds in the North Pacific Ocean, and 11 along the east Australian coast and in New Zealand during the southward (spring) migration; also 9 recoveries of fledglings that perished at the natal area immediately after their first take-off. Altogether 24 of these recoveries were on birds in their first year of life, but relatively the numbers are small and represent a recovery rate, for that age-group, of about 1.3 per thousand from the time they leave their burrows.