1.1 Seabirds

Seabirds are one of the most important and formative groups of birds in the Oceania region. In many ways, they can be considered the architects of the islands we live on today.

There are just over 11,000 species of birds worldwide. Remarkably, only 3% of the global total of bird species are seabirds. Seabirds have evolved from a wide range of different taxonomic groups. Common to all is that they spend part of their life cycle foraging over aquatic environments, be it open ocean, coastal waters, lakes or rivers. They are essentially marine creatures and possess unique physiological and morphological adaptations to successfully exploit this environment. They can be highly mobile, and in some cases the whole population of a species can travel from one side of an ocean to another during certain times of the year. They come in all shapes and sizes and are often highly specialised.

Figure 3. Short-tailed Shearwaters on migration, en route from Australia to the North Pacific in April 2024, offshore New Caledonia. Photo: Edin Whitehead