Malta and Gozo are a hotspot for seabirds. Not only are they home to around 10% of the world’s population of Yelkouan Shearwaters, but they also supports 5% of the world’s breeding population of Cory’s Shearwaters and have the largest population of European Storm Petrels in the Mediterranean – on Filfla.

Yelkouan Shearwaters are a fascinating species, for example:

– They have a special tube on their noses which allows them to filter salt. This means that they can survive on the wing at sea with no access to fresh water (and gives this family of birds the name of “tubenoses”)

– They live for a very long time. The oldest bird known of in Malta is over twenty years old and still going strong.

– Parents take turns to look after their chicks; one goes fishing at sea while the other looks after the baby!

– These birds travel very long distances. Maltese birds have turned up in Greece during the wintering season.

The EU LIFE Yelkouan Shearwater Project has been running for over a year now, working hard to make sure that the Yelkouan Shearwater is protected on land and at sea.

Work has included a rat eradication programme as rats were eating the shearwater chicks. This has been very successful and in 2007, many more chicks survived than in previous years. The Project is also protecting the Project Site of Rdum tal-Madonna, the main location for breeding Yelkouan Shearwaters in Malta.

The Project has issued a Code of Conduct telling people how to enjoy the site without damaging the wildlife. They are also preventing disturbance from the sea – their project partner the Armed Forces of Malta are patrolling at sea and making sure that a Notice to Mariners issued by the Malta Maritime Authority is enforced. This makes sure that boats (particularly disco boats) don’t stop opposite the cliffs at night during the breeding season as light and noise can cause the birds to desert their nests.

Most importantly, they are finding out more about the areas at sea that are important for the birds. BirdLife Malta has been studying the birds for over thirty years so we know a lot about their behaviour on land, but very little about where they go fishing to feed their chick or where they go at the end of the breeding season when they leave the islands.

The project fitted a bird with a special electronic device in 2007, the first time this had ever been tried in Malta. The results were surprising, with the bird travelling over 200kms away from Malta, feeding for three days and then returning to feed its click. The Project plan to do much more tagging work (called “telemetry”) in 2008 and will be fitting satellite tags to birds as well as a number of other devices to track their movements.

Through the work of the project they are gradually unravelling the secrets of Malta’s shearwaters – their work will help to ensure that we know which areas are important for the birds at sea and are able to protect not just their breeding grounds but also their fishing and rafting grounds as Marine Important Bird Areas and ultimately as “Special Protection Areas,” protected by EU and National Law.

Permalink: The EU LIFE Yelkouan Shearwater Project – Interesting facts