Social Media Reports Inform the Spatio-temporal Distribution of Leach's Storm-Petrel Strandings Across the Island of Newfoundland

Abstract - Hydrobates leucorhous (Leach's Storm-Petrel) are small, pelagic seabirds that breed at several large colonies around the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, which support ∼5,000,000 breeding adults. The Northwest Atlantic population has declined by ∼54% from 1974 to 2018. A major conservation concern is the stranding of birds in brightly lit coastal towns. We used social media reports to map 5411 Leach's Storm-Petrel strandings across the island of Newfoundland from 1 May to 30 November 2021. Sites on the eastern Avalon Peninsula were stranding hotpots, and the peak stranding period spanned mid-September to mid-October. We considered how attraction to anthropogenic light influenced the geographic and temporal patterns of the strandings. We also examined the use of social media information to gauge ecological events that occur over large geographic scales. We suggest further research and conservation strategies.