Nocturnal burrow‐nesting seabirds breeding on isolated oceanic islands pose challenges to conventional monitoring techniques, resulting in their frequent exclusion from population studies. These seabirds have been devastated by nonnative predator introductions on islands worldwide. After predators are eradicated, recovery has been poorly quantified, but evidence suggests some nocturnal seabird populations have been slow to return. We evaluated the use of automated acoustic recorders and call‐recognition software to investigate nocturnal seabird recovery after removal of introduced Arctic foxes (Alopex lagopus) in the Aleutian Archipelago, Alaska. We compared relative seabird abundance among islands by examining levels of vocal activity. We deployed acoustic recorders on Nizki‐Alaid, Amatignak, and Little Sitkin islands that had foxes removed in 1975, 1991, and 2000, respectively, and on Buldir, a predator‐free seabird colony. Despite frequent gales, only 2.9% of 2230 recording hours from May to August of 2008 and 2009 were unusable due to wind noise. Recording quality and call recognition model success were highest when recording devices were placed at sites offering some wind shelter. We detected greater vocal activity of Fork‐tailed (Oceanodroma furcata) and Leach's (O. leucorhoa) storm‐petrels and Ancient Murrelets (Synthliboramphus antiquus) on islands with longer time periods since fox eradication. Also, by detecting chick calls in the automated recordings, we confirmed breeding by Ancient Murrelets on an island thought to be abandoned due to fox predation. Acoustic monitoring allowed us to examine the relative abundance of seabirds at remote sites. If a link between vocalizations and population dynamics can be made, acoustic monitoring could be a powerful census method.