Malta might not be the richest natural place in the world, but when it comes to seabirds, these islands play quite an important role in the global biodiversity scene.

Storm Petrel equipped with a radio tag just before being released. Photo: Ben Metzger

Malta is home to large numbers of three seabird species that are declining and need to be saved, namely the Yelkouan Shearwater (Garnija), the Scopoli’s Shearwater (Ċiefa) and the European Storm Petrel (Kanġu ta’ Filfla). For the very first time, Malta will be protecting areas in the sea for these birds thanks to the findings of five years of seabird research undertaken in the Lifeplus Malta Seabird Project, led by Birdlife Malta.

As the project nears its conclusion at the end of this month, we look back at the highlights of these past five years.

Protecting the sea for birds

In-depth seabird research in Malta started about a decade ago and much has been already done to protect them on land. When looking at the map of protected areas, one can see that they stretch along the southwestern cliffs of Malta and Gozo, where most seabird colonies have found their life-long nesting sites.

Seabirds are extremely faithful to their nesting spots, and if these places are destroyed or disturbed, they will have nowhere else to go. But they spend a relatively short amount of time on land as they can spend weeks and months in the open waters.

The primary aim of the project was finding areas in Maltese waters where these seabirds gather and feed in their greatest numbers

Therefore to fully protect seabirds, the sea needs to be kept safe too. The primary aim of the Malta Seabird Project was finding these areas in Maltese waters, where these seabirds gather and feed in their greatest numbers. These are called Important Bird Areas – a globally recognised network of crucial nature sites for birds.

The project found eight such zones in Maltese waters that will for the first time be protected under local and EU nature laws. This does not mean all human activities in these areas will be banned. In fact, by identifying marine Important Bird Areas we try to find a balance between nature protection, marine traffic, fishing and other activities.

Project pioneers research using antennas on seabirds

Tracking technology is key in modern-day bird studies and it develops quickly. Malta was the first in Europe to successfully follow the routes of European Storm-Petrels using radio-tracking technology.

Storm Petrels are Malta’s smallest seabirds – just a bit larger than sparrows – and other tracking devices were simply too heavy for them, such as GPS tags that are used for the bigger shearwaters.

So as not to be a nuisance, a tracking device should not be heavier than five per cent of a bird’s body mass. Very high frequency (VHF) tags with antennas that emit signals were the answer to find out Storm-Petrel whereabouts out at sea. A total of 76 birds from the largest colony in Filfla were fitted with such devices.

The research team then flew a small aircraft to receive the ‘beeps’ and special software recorded the number of each individual bird, time and its exact location. These signals and other tracking results were then put together with other environmental data to create a mathematical model and draw the Important Bird Areas.

Oldest Maltese seabird found

To know the breeding success and colony sizes of local seabirds, nesting sites are regularly visited. On one such visit, the researchers caught a very special bird that broke the record of the oldest known Maltese seabird.

The local record belongs to a female Scopoli’s Shearwater which was at that moment at least 30 years old. Back in 1985 a metal ring was placed on this bird’s leg and 28 years later the bird was recaptured in the same nesting site. But why say at least 30, why not 28? That was just a cautious guess. Ringing records reveal that when this female was ringed, she was already a breeding adult.

Shearwaters take their time to reach maturity, usually five or six years. However, in some cases they can start parenting as early as two years after hatching.

When we say that this shearwater is at least 30 years old, we must keep in mind that we can’t really be sure how old this adult bird was in that summer 1985. They moult every year and adult birds of different ages all look all the same to a human eye.

This makes it even more fascinating to find out how seabird couples recognise each other and find their life partner in the middle of the sea, hundreds of kilometres away from the nest.

First Yelkouan Shearwater to be born in a man-made nest

Shearwaters nest in deep, dark crevices in the cliffs, which makes it very difficult to observe them during breeding season, including incubation and chick rearing periods.

The Malta Seabird Project trialled special nest boxes for Yelkouan Shearwaters, and for the first time such a box was successfully made use of.

‘Jack-in-the-box’ – the first Yelkouan Shearwater chick to hatch in a man-made nest – at the entrance of the nest box which has been occupied every year since by the same seabird couple. Photo: Ben Metzger

The chick was named Jack-in-the-box, and he was possibly the first Yelkouan Shearwater in the world to hatch in an artificial nest.

Jack’s relatives are facing rapid global declines – Yelkouan Shearwaters are the most threatened of all Malta’s seabirds and are red-listed as ‘vulnerable’ to extinction. Low breeding success is one of the reasons, and nest boxes open up the possibility to easily observe and better understand what happens to the birds during this vital time and what can we do to help them recover.

The LIFE+ Malta Seabird Project is a partnership between Birdlife Malta, the RSPB (Birdlife UK), SPEA (Birdlife Portugal) and the Ministry for Sustainable Development, Environment and Climate Change (MSDEC). Half of its funding was provided by the EU’s Life unit.

Ketija Riteniece is Lifeplus Malta Seabird Project communications officer.