Aboriginal peoples at opposite ends of the globe have teamed up to plot the epic journey of a feathered adventurer, the short-tailed shearwater or muttonbird.
First nations rangers in Western Australia are joining with their native-title counterparts in Alaska on a ground-breaking project after expressing alarm at falling numbers of shearwaters at both ends of their global range.
The knowledge-sharing research aims to ensure the survival of the migratory seabird.
Short-tailed shearwaters used to blacken the skies on the south-west coast of Western Australia during what the local Noongar peoples call the Djilba season, between August and September, when the days shift from chilly winds to warmer weather.
At the other end of the year, on the other side of the globe, flocks of shearwaters would darken the skies in Alaska, ready to feast on the teeming fish and squid from melting ice and snow in the Arctic summer. Like the Noongari, the indigenous Yup’ik people celebrated their arrival.
But First Nations peoples on both coasts noticed something was wrong. They began to see sick and dying shearwaters washing up on beaches: emaciated, they had microplastics in their stomachs instead of food. Birds were also turning up in places they hadn’t been seen before, veering far away from their fixed migration routes in a search for food further afield.
More than 30 million shearwaters return each year to breeding colonies off Australia’s southern coastline, mostly concentrated in the eastern states. Large numbers, however, also return to burrows in the rocky archipelagos off Western Australia’s southern coast as well as the sand hills near Esperance, an area known for its pristine waters and sandy beaches.
In April, they return north to make the 15,000 kilometre journey back to Alaska, with newly fledged chicks in tow.
In an attempt to understand the birds’ perilous journey, the rangers employed by Esperance Tjaltjraak Native Title Aboriginal Corporation are working with the Yup’ik and other Alaskan traditional owners. The global research project combines ecological, scientific and ancestral knowledge.
The project aims to form a clearer picture of how the birds live: their migration patterns; how deep they dive for food; and ultimately the risks they are facing in a changing environment.
The short-tailed shearwater is the most abundant Australian seabird. In the south-east, approximately 23 million breed in about 285 colonies from September to April. Eighteen million of these arrive in Tasmania each year.
In recent years the same problems plaguing the population in the west of the country have been witnessed here, with dead and dying birds regularly seen on Tasmanian beaches.
Researchers overseas have pinpointed ocean warming as a key factor in mass deaths of seabirds. With seas at record temperatures, this is affecting the distribution of fish and their food. In turn, it is severely impacting the marine mammals and birds that prey on the fish.