At an estimated 67 years of age, Wisdom the globally Near Threatened Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis, the world’s oldest known breeding bird, hatched her latest egg (click here) on 6 February this year. Wisdom and her mate Akeakamai of 12 years breed on Midway Atoll in the North Pacific; both are colour-banded to aid in identification.

Wisdom with her 2018 chick, photograph by Bob Peyton, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Wisdom has been breeding on Midway Atoll since at least 1956, when she was first banded by the late Chandler Robbins.

She has successfully raised an estimated 30-36 albatross chicks over the course of her life to date.

Visit Wisdom’s USFWS and Facebook pages for more information and photographs.  Read the latest news here and access the many ACAP Latest News postings on Wisdom here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 26 February 2018

Vincent Bourret (CEFE, CNRS-Université de Montpellier, France) and colleagues have published open access in the journal Conservation Letters on a novel procedure to reduce the effects of disease on globally Endangered Indian Yellow-nosed Albatrosses Thalassarche carteri on France’s Amsterdam Island.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Global change is contributing to unprecedented expansions of infectious diseases in wildlife. Recurrent avian cholera outbreaks are causing dramatic chick mortality and population decline in endangered albatross colonies on Amsterdam Island, a critical seabird breeding ground in the Southern Indian Ocean.We manufactured a killed vaccine using a Pasteurella multocida strain isolated from a dead albatross in the field. We used this same bacterial strain to establish a serological assay allowing the monitoring of antibody levels following bird vaccination. Using this vaccine on chicks 2 weeks posthatching caused 100% seroconversion and reduced the death risk by a factor exceeding 2.5, raising fledging probability from 14% to 46%. These results suggest that using a specifically tailored vaccine could be a key tool to effectively protect endangered seabirds from disease outbreaks threatening them with extinction.”

An Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross broods its downy chick, photograph by Peter Ryan

With thanks to Barry Baker.

Reference:

Bourret, V., Gamble, A., Tornos, J., Jaeger, A., Delord, K., Barbraud, C., Tortosa, P., Kada, S., Thiebot, J.-B., Thibault, E., Gantelet, H., Weimerskirch, H., Garnier, R. & Boulinier, T. 2018. Vaccination protects endangered albatross chicks against avian cholera. Conservation Letters DOI: 10.1111/conl.12443.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 23 February 2018

In February 2017 15 globally Near Threatened Black-footed Albatross Phoebastria nigripes chicks were translocated by air from the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Reserve for hand rearing in the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Fourteen successfully fledged; the 15th chick died shortly before fledging. The aim is to create a new breeding colony less vulnerable to the effects of sea level rise and extreme weather events (click here).

This year 23 Black-foot chicks were collected from Midway and Tern Island within the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument and brought back to the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge on a five-day sea voyage. As in the previous year the chicks were taken from nests near the water’s edge and so deemed to be in danger of being washed away by storms. The chicks have now now settled into their home in the refuge and will be placed outside tomorrow, following an indoor quarantine period when they were inspected by a veterinarian.

One tray each: the 2018-cohort translocated chicks await their hand-fed meal, photograph by Pacific Rim Conservation

For more information on this project visit the No Net Loss website.

“No Net Loss is an initiative of Pacific Rim Conservation, a non-profit conservation organization based in Hawaii that focuses on island bird restoration. We have partnered with landowners, non-profit organizations and government agencies to create a series of “mainland islands” (fenced, predator-free sites on inhabited islands) as well as completely predator-free islands that will serve as “Arks” for island species in Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific. We help to restore bird species to these mainland islands by using translocation or social attraction.”

View a video clip on the 2017 translocation.

With thanks to Lindsay Young, Pacific Rim Conservation.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 22 February 2018

ACAP Latest News recently reported on the start of the 2017/2018 breeding season of closely managed Northern Royal Albatrosses Diomedea sanfordi at New Zealand’s Taiaroa Head with 32 nests occupied.  At one nest a live-streaming camera (the “Royal Cam”) has been set up for a third year (click here).

The latest news from New Zealand’s Department of Conservation (DOC) is that the colony is having a poor year. In what seems an unusual case, the Royal Cam female attacked its own one-month-old downy chick, which did not then survive. Hatching success has also been lower than average:

“This chick was one of only 16 to hatch this year, as Dunedin’s unusually hot summer has been putting the birds under a great deal of stress. While 29 fertile eggs were laid this year, only just over 50% of these eggs hatched, down from between 70 to 85% in previous years. As well as prolonged high temperatures and the tail end of cyclone Fehi, a lack of wind has been an issue for the nesting birds. Strong winds are vital for the birds to fly and without them albatross are eventually forced to abandon their nests. Weather conditions also increased the incidence of fly-strike after hatching with seven chicks being affected contributing to one mortality. As a result, there has been a high incidence of embryo death inside the egg and the albatross colony currently has only 14 chicks compared with 26 and 23 at the same time over the last two years respectively.”

"DOC rangers are continuing daily management of the remaining chicks  to ensure they have the best possible chance of surviving to fledge.  Management includes removal of any maggots, supplementary feeding for chicks and nesting birds, and using hand watering and an irrigation sprinkler system on the headland to help keep chicks and adult birds cool."

A Northern Royal Albatross stands over its hatchling at Taiaroa Head

Click here for more information

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 21 February 2018