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Bryan’s Shearwater

Puffinus bryani

About

Bryan’s Shearwater is the smallest of all Puffinus shearwaters.

This species is part of the Procellariidae family, which includes shearwaters, albatrosses and petrels, and this bird family diverged from all other family of birds 59.5 million years ago, during the Paleogene period. Very little is known about this species habitat and ecology and their at-sea distribution is relatively unknown. Its apparent rarity would suggest that the population is extremely small. Introduced black rats have been identified as predators of this species. The Ministry of Environment of Higashijima, Japan, responded to the mass depredation of birds by initiating a rat eradication programme, which has apparently been successful, with no rats being observed since 2010. This would allow the islands to become suitable breeding locations for the species. There are also ongoing eradication programmes for each island in the Ogawasara Islands in Japan. Higashijima is now protected by the Forestry Agency and access to the island is restricted.

  • Order: Procellariiformes
  • Family: Procellariidae
  • Population: 50-249
  • Trend: decreasing
  • Size: 25cm

EDGE Score

EDGE Score: 4.96 (?)
ED Score: 7.88 (?)
GE / IUCN Red List (?)
Not Evaluated Data Deficient Least Concern Near Threatened Vulnerable Endangered Critically Endangered Extinct in the Wild Extinct

Distribution

The species is only found on Midway Island, USA and in the Bonin Islands, Japan.

Habitat and Ecology

This species breeds during the northern winter. Specimens were found in a mosaic of scrub forest and grassland, consisting of screw pine and Bonin silver grass. The nest site was a burrow in grassland. This species has only been found on small islands.

Find out more

This wordcloud illustrates the threats facing this species. The size of each word indicates the extent of a species range that is affected by that threat (larger size means a greater area is affected). The colour of the word indicates how much that threat impacts the species (darker shades of red mean the threat is more severe).

Invasive species Energy

Threat wordcloud key:

Small area affected
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a
a
a
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Large area affected
Least severe
Most severe
Severity unknown
Source: The IUCN List of Threatened Species. Version 2017.1.
Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org