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Public asked to watch for fallen birds

Biologists are asking for the public’s help in finding Maui seabirds that fall to the ground after becoming disoriented by manmade lighting.

The biologists at Haleakala National Park and the Department of Land and Natural Resources said Wednesday that residents should help protect endangered Hawaiian petrels and non-endangered wedge-tailed shearwaters.

When young seabirds leave their nests to fly to ocean feeding grounds annually in October and November, they use the stars to navigate.

But the birds sometimes get confused by lights from the land, flying in circles around the lights before tiring and falling to the ground.

Grounded birds should be put in a ventilated cardboard box, and park officials should be called to recover them.

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