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Chapter I Intro & Objectives - SPREP

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PHOENIX ISLANDS PROTECTED AREA MANAGEMENT PLAN<br />

<strong>Chapter</strong> III. Background, 3. Terrestrial Resources<br />

Draft 1 March 2007<br />

Buddle (1938) probably saw lesser frigatebirds on Abariringa (Canton) (according to Sibley<br />

and Clapp 1967).<br />

As part of the 1938 Line Islands Expedition, Donaggho (1952 and 1953) visited Abariringa<br />

(Canton) and reported that bird life was considerably more scarce than at Howland. White<br />

terns and bo’son birds were the only bird in abundance. Fifty bo’sun birds were banned.<br />

Noddies, Christmas Island shearwater, red-footed boobies, frigatebirds, and Phoenix petrels<br />

were also observed.<br />

Gardner (1938) speculated that rats on Abariringa (Canton) lived on bird eggs which resulted<br />

in bird populations on Abariringa (Canton) being less than on Enderbury.<br />

Bryan (1940a) reported that the largest bird species was the great frigage of man-o-war bird,<br />

Fregata minor palmerstoni. It outnumbered all other birds on Abariringa (Canton).<br />

According to Bryan (1940a), Bundle (1938) reported seeing the magnificent frigate bird,<br />

Fregata magnificans, flying with the greater frigate, but was not reported to nest on<br />

Abariringa (Canton).<br />

The next largest birds and also abundant (Bryan 1940a) were the three species of boobies, the<br />

blue-faced booby, Sula dactylatra personata, the red-footed booby, Sula sula rubripes, and<br />

the brown booby, Sula leucogastra plotus.<br />

The red-tailed tropicbird, Phaethon rubricauda melanorhynchos, was also fairly abundant<br />

(Bryan 1940a). There were four species of shearwaters and petrels that have been observed<br />

on Abriringa (Canton) (Bryan 1940a). These included the wedge-tailed shearwater, Puffinus<br />

pacificus chlororhynchus, the Christmas Islands shearwater, Puffinus nativitatis, the dusky<br />

shearwater, Puffinus ilherminieri dicrous, and the Phoenix petrel, Pterodroma alba.<br />

Also, eight species of terns have been reported from Abariringa (Canton) (Bryan 1940a).<br />

These colonies come and go. The wideawake or sooty tern, Sterna fuscata oahuensis,<br />

spectacled or bridled tern, Sterna lunata, and brown noddy, Anous stolidus pileatus, were<br />

abundant. The white tern, Gygis alba, and the blue-gray noddy, Procelsterna cerulea nebouxi<br />

were common, but not numerous. The crested tern, Thalasseus bergii cristatus, brownwinged<br />

tern, Sterna anaethetus, and black-naped tern, Sterna sumatrana, were observed<br />

within flocks of other more abundant species.<br />

Other species were migratory (Bryan 1940a). This included the Pacific golden plover,<br />

Pluvialis dominicus fulvus, the turnstone, Arenaria interpres, the wandering tattler,<br />

Heteroscelus incanus, and the bristle-thighed curlew, Numenius tahitensis.<br />

Mathews (1942) proposed a new subspecies of birds from Abariringa (Canton), Pterodroma<br />

alba cantonia subsp. nov. He noted that this subspecies bred in June or July on Abariringa<br />

(Canton).<br />

During World War II, most birds left Abariringa (Canton) due to the test firing of canons and<br />

massive construction on the island (Oates 2003). After the military left in 1946, birds slowly<br />

moved back to Abariringa (Canton). In 1943, the dredging of the channel was completed and<br />

Spam island was created. Spam island became a natural bird sanctuary. Bird populations<br />

flourished there after the war.<br />

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