A young Cory’s Shearwater has travelled over 4,500 km from its nest in Malta to the Atlantic Ocean and is currently off the coast of Senegal, BirdLife Malta said.
It said in a statement that the seabird, born in Malta this year, was equipped with a satellite tag by the EU LIFE Yelkouan Shearwater project.
The young bird left its nest at Hal Far on the October 12 to begin its epic first journey and its most recent transmission puts it 138 km off the coast of Senegal.
"This is the first ever record of a young Maltese seabird leaving the Mediterranean Sea for the Atlantic Ocean and this discovery was made possible by the EU LIFE Project’s scientific team," Andre Raine, BirdLife Malta’s conservation manager said.
The data transmitted by the satellite tag showed that the seabird spent the first few weeks feeding off the northern coast of Tunisia and the Pelagian islands.
Early November it headed west, first via the southern coast of Sardinia before journeying on towards Spain. At 11:16 on November 13 it sent a signal from the Straits of Gibraltar and then continued southwards, following the coast of Morocco and Mauritania towards Senegal.
The journey of the young Cory’s Shearwater was entirely different from that shown by the LIFE project for the Yelkouan Shearwater.
Ten young Yelkouans were equipped with satellite tags by the project team over the last two years, and these went eastwards.
The data collected from young Yelkouans showed that the Aegean Sea was particularly important for many of them after they fledged, and they could spend several months in this area feeding along coastal waters.
"Our work with satellite tags is showing that shearwater conservation in Malta does not stop at home," Dr Raine said."
Seabirds throughout the world often range over very large distances when not at their nesting sites and conservation work needs to consider these migration stop-overs and wintering grounds as well as breeding areas.
"This really shows the wider international context of seabird conservation for Malta, and puts Malta firmly on the map for seabird research."
The EU LIFE Yelkouan Shearwater project is a partnership of four governmental bodies in Malta and three conservation NGOs. The project is 50 per cent sponsored by the EU Life Unit with additional support from MEPA and HSBC.