A pair of Wandering Albatrosses; photo by Melanie Wells. High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza was detected in Wandering Albatrosses on sub-Antarctic islands earlier in 2024

The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatross and Petrels is delighted to announce an opportunity to take part in a training workshop and Q&A session focused on mitigating the impact of high pathogenicity H5N1 avian influenza when working with albatrosses and petrels. 

The workshop and Q&A session, supported by the ACAP Secondment Programme, will take place, 1:30 PM – 6:00 PM (GMT -7), Thursday 23 May 2024, through a hybrid model, with any interested party able to participate either by attending in person at the upcoming Seventh International Albatross and Petrel Conference (IAPC7) in Mexico, or via virtual attendance through registration at the following link, https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_WK4tlr6ARIKnVTSPRSFHBw.

The workshop, which aligns with and expands upon the principles detailed in ACAP’s “Guidelines for working with albatrosses and petrels during the on-going high pathogenicity H5N1 avian influenza outbreak”, aims to improve reaction and mitigation efforts concerning HPAI for albatrosses and petrels and bolster international capacity for early detection and response while minimising further spread. 

The successful proposal to the 2023 round of ACAP’s Secondment Programme was submitted by Patricia Pereira Serafini, Co-convenor of the Agreement’s Population and Conservation Status Working Group (PaCSWG), and lead member of ACAP’s High Pathogenicity H5N1 Avian Influenza Intersessional Group. The HPAI Group consists of thirteen experts on epidemiology, disease risk assessment and management who advise ACAP on issues related to the ongoing H5N1 avian influenza outbreak. 

Patricia says one of the main drivers behind the proposal for the workshop was to create greater awareness of the recommendations contained in the ACAP Guidelines and to contribute to promoting human safety and preventing human-mediated spread of HPAI viruses to ACAP species. She said:

"The current threat presented by HPAI H5N1 to seabirds is unprecedented. The IAPC7 workshop aims to inform stakeholders about strategies for preventing and managing disease risks for ACAP populations and humans in contact with birds and provide insight in adjusting conservation strategies based on evolving disease dynamics. Disseminating ACAP's guidelines and providing training on practical tools for field teams is crucial for effective disease surveillance and mitigation, safeguarding human health and curbing virus spread.”

The four members of the ACAP HPAI H5N1 Intersessional Group who will be facilitating the workshop at IAPC7, from left to right: Jolene Giacinti, Ralph E. T. Vanstreels, Patricia Pereira Serafini and Amandine Gamble.

The workshop and Q&A session will be delivered by four members of the Intersessional Group:

• Jolene Giacinti, Veterinary Epidemiologist and Wildlife Health Specialist, Environment and Climate Change Canada
• Ralph E. T. Vanstreels, Latin America Program, Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center, University of California - Davis, USA (based in Patagonia, Argentina)
• Patricia Pereira Serafini, Federal University of Santa Catarina and National Centre for Wild Birds Conservation and Research –CEMAVE/ICMBio/MMA/Brazil 
• Amandine Gamble, Department of Public and Ecosystem Health, Cornell University, USA

By supporting the training workshop and Q&A session on high pathogenicity H5N1 avian influenza, and sharing subsequent results and outcomes, this ACAP Secondment will aid in developing monitoring protocols for detecting HPAI in albatrosses and petrels, whilst fostering collaboration among stakeholders to address disease threats.

Registration for IAPC7 is still open, with information available at the conference website, here.

ACAP Latest News will report on the workshop and Q&A session at IAPC7, or follow the conference’s social media channels: Instagram, @iapc7_mx or X, @IAPC7_MX.

Any questions about the Q&A and workshop taking place on Thursday 23 May 2024 can be directed to ACAP Communications Advisor, Bree Forrer, here.

1 May 2024

Pointillist portrait of Short-tailed Albatrosses George and Geraldine by ABUN artist Holly Parsons for ACAP’s World Albatross Day on 19 June, after a photograph by Jonathon Plissner.  Geraldine is the darker bird in front on the nest.  Acrylic on 16x20-inch canvas board

The 2023/24 chick produced by the well-known pair of Vulnerable Short-tailed Albatrosses Phoebastria albatrus on the USA’s Midway Atoll was given its metal and colour bands by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Biologists Laura Brazier and Jon Plissner on 17 April (click here).  This is the fifth chick to be reared (out of six breeding attempts) by the atoll’s lone Short-tail (or Makalena) pair, known affectionately as George and Geraldine.  All four previous chicks successfully fledged and two of them have been seen regularly back on the atoll’s Sand Island as juveniles.

Held for banding.  The Short-tailed albatross chick is noticeably larger than the surrounding Laysan Albatross chicks, photograph by Dan Rapp

“The day before [banding] Jon Plissner and the Papahānaumokuākea Marine Debris Project crew observed much more than just the 4-month-old chick that is often left alone at this age.  The father was sitting next to the chick as the mother was snoozing close by and two of the chick's siblings, one that hatched in 2019 the other in 2022, were dancing with each other within a few feet of the nest.  Perhaps one day this exciting and additional Makalena activity will attract other mature birds from across the Pacific to join them.”  So will the second pair of Short-tailed Albatrosses to breed on Sand Island be brother and sister?

 
The 2023/24 Short-tailed Albatross chick gets plastic colour band green AA01 on its left leg, photograph by Dan Rapp

Access previous posts to ACAP Latest News about George and Geraldine here, and view more paintings of Short-tailed Albatrosses produced by Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) for this year’s World Albatross Day and its theme “Marine Protected Areas – Safeguarding our Oceans” in an ACAP Facebook photo album.

Other news from Midway is of the latest annual nest count of Black-footed P. nigripes and Laysan P. immutabilis Albatrosses as reported on the Facebook page of the United States Fish & Wildlife Service.

“Every December for over 30 years, a dozen incredible volunteers arrive at the atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean to count every Laysan (mōlī) and black-footed albatross (ka’upu) nests.  It takes weeks of systematic walking, hand counting, and in some cases, methodically repeating a specific section to double check.  This year the team counted nearly 500,000 mōlī nests and a little less than 30,000 ka’upu nests.  The counts typically rise and fall in alternating years, sometimes by as much as 20%, and the reason for the pattern remains unknown.”

Watch a video of Midway’s annual albatross count in progress by Dan Rapp, United States Fish & Wildlife Service.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 30 April 2024

From the report: Fig 1. A tail mounted Telonics PTT device (A) and a body-harness mounted TechnoSmart PTT device (B) fitted to a Northern Buller’s Albatross. The latter was fitted as a test for a couple of hours only.

A report by Mike Bell and Dave Bell (Toroa Consulting) and Carlos Zavalaga (Universidad Científica del Sur, Lima, Perú) has been released by the Conservation Services Programme of New Zealand’s Department of Conservation. The report is part of an ongoing long-term research project that began in 2021 on populations of Northern Royal and Buller’s albatrosses and Northern Giant Petrels on the Chatham Islands’ Motuhara. 

The report’s summary follows:

“Northern Royal Albatross (Diomedea sanfordi), Northern Buller’s Mollymawk (Thalassarche bulleri platei) and Northern Giant Petrel (Macronectes halli) all have significant breeding populations on Motuhara (43⁰96’S, 175⁰83’W). Although research has been undertaken periodically since the 1970’s on these islands, more recently a long-term research project on Motuhara has been initiated since January 2021. Some aspects of this work have been funded by the Department of Conservation’s various programmes, including the Conservation Services Programme and the Budget22 International Seabird Conservation Initiative.

In January 2024, a 10-day field trip to Motuhara was carried out to undertake seabird research. Aims of the trip were varied and included:

1. Deploying PTT satellite transmitters on Northern Royal Albatross and Northern Buller’s Mollymawk, including the trialling of a novel leg-loop harness attachment method (DOC AEC 453)
2. Deploying and recovering i-got-u GPS loggers on Northern Buller’s Mollymawk
3. Retrieving previously deployed GLS loggers on Northern Buller’s Mollymawk, Cape Petrels (Daption capense), and Pyramid Prions (Pachyptila pyramidalis)
4. Census breeding Northern Royal Albatross and Northern Buller’s Mollymawk
5. Resighting banded Northern Royal Albatross and Northern Buller’s Mollymawk at various study colonies
6. Retrieving trail cameras set up to recording breeding activity at Northern Royal Albatross, Northern Buller’s Mollymawk, and Northern Giant Petrel breeding areas
7. Banding another cohort of Northern Giant Petrel chicks

This report provides a summary of the trip and the associated raw data. Similarly to previous trip reports, no species analyses of data are included, as all these species are long-lived, and demographic data hasn’t been collected for enough years to warrant analyses. This report aims to provide data of the trip’s findings in a similar format to previous trip reports (e.g., Bell 2023).

Unlike previous trips, however, this trip included an additional international component in the form of a secondee from Perú to New Zealand: Carlos Zavalaga (Director de la Unidad de Investigación de Ecosistemas Marinos, Grupo Aves Marinas, Universidad Científica del Sur, Lima, Perú) joined the trip assist with the field research and further strengthen the connection and collaboration between Perú and New Zealand on the conservation of seabirds that are shared between the two countries, including Northern Buller’s Albatross.”

Publication information

Bell, M. 2024. Motuhara seabird research: field trip report January 2024. Report prepared by Toroa Consulting Limited for the Department of Conservation. 8 pp. 

29 April 2024

The Mouse-Free Marion (MFM) Project is a non-profit company registered in South Africa and established to eradicate the invasive albatross-killing House Mice Mus musculus on Marion Island in the Southern Ocean.  The project was initiated by BirdLife South Africa and the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.  “Upon successful completion, the project will restore the critical breeding habitat of over two million seabirds, many globally threatened, and improve the island’s resilience to a warming climate”.

The latest issue (No. 9 of April 2024) of the project’s quarterly newsletter has been released. Following on from a Welcome editorial by Robyn Adams, MFM Communications Officer and Project Assistant, the newsletter gives information of the MFM Project’s recent activities under the heads:

• Out of office at Marion Island. The MFM Project Manager and new MFM Project overwintering team member head to Marion Island as part of the annual relief voyage.
• Planning for success: The Mouse-Free Marion Project brings together experts at a Mouse-Eradication Workshop.
• MFM Patron, Peter Harrison MBE, visits the Mouse-Free Marion Project’s Cape Town office.

This Vulnerable Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans chick has been attacked by mice on Marion Island; it did not survive, 21 June 2023, photograph by Michelle Risi

Previous issues of the newsletter may be found on the project’s website.

With thanks to Robyn Adams, MFM Communications Officer and Project Assistant.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 25 April 2024