Artificial light attraction & grounding

Names and classification

Record type

threat

Kauaʻi occurrence and status

Recorded state

Active / seasonal

Threats and conservation

Pressure source

Night lighting near seabird flight paths

Exposure pathway

Nocturnal seabirds become disoriented/attracted, ground and face secondary hazards

Consequences

Grounding, collision, predation, vehicle strike, dehydration and mortality

Affected requirements

Fledgling and adult seabird survival and successful ocean-bound flight

Susceptibility

Newell’s shearwater, Hawaiian petrel, band-rumped storm-petrel and other seabirds

Reversibility

Highly mitigable at source through shielding/intensity/spectrum changes; grounded birds can sometimes be rescued

Early warning indicators

Grounded-bird counts; light intensity/skyglow; spatial clusters; rescue mortality

Conservation interventions

Implementation limits

Magnitude, exposure and trend are not assumed uniform across Kauaʻi; local evidence governs.

Sources and further reading

• https://kauaiseabirdproject.org/the-solutions/
• https://kauaiseabirdproject.org/underline-monitoring-research/

Connected Atlas records

• Coastal dry shrubland & grassland · Ecosystems
• Sandy beach & dune ecosystem · Ecosystems
• Nearshore pelagic coastal-water ecosystem · Ecosystems
• Offshore islet coastal & seabird ecosystem · Ecosystems
• Dark-sky lighting, shielding & seasonal light reduction · Threats & Conservation
• Downed seabird rescue & rehabilitation · Threats & Conservation